Mental health and recently published books

       In this blog piece, I want to talk about some mental health resources:  a biography, and three non-fiction materials. Individuals and family members bring discussions about their victories and struggles in life.

The first is a biography entitled “Rosemary: The Hidden Kennedy Daughter,” by Kate Clifford Larson. It outlines the life of Rosemary Kennedy, the first child of Joseph and Rose Kennedy, parents to former President, John F. Kennedy. It was Joseph’s Kennedy’s dream and plans to have one of his sons become president.  When his oldest son, Joseph Patrick Kennedy died in World War II, the responsibility came to John. The book tells us when Rosemary was born, the nurses told Rose to hold her legs together until the doctor arrived. This probably caused brain damage due to the lack of oxygen. Hence, Rosemary was considered slow.  The book demonstrated that she could hold a conversation at some level.  Though her writing was simple and not grammatically correct she did get her point across.  Larson also shows that Joe and Rose Kennedy worked diligently to get their oldest daughter to function at a level acceptable within society.  They sent her to private schools, gave her tutors.  As I’ve read the book, it seems that Rosemary’s parents were obsessed with marking sure she gave no shame to the family. As she grew into adulthood, Rosemary became more rebellious and hard to handle. Doctors suggested to Joseph Kennedy that an experimental brain lobotomy would cure Rosemary (p. 159). Though it has long been told that Rose knew nothing about the procedure, Larson explains that Kathleen, their third child investigated the medical procedure.  She told her mother that this was not a procedure for them to have done on Rosemary.  Her mother agreed after learning what her daughter told her.  Kathleen said, that John White, a reported found through investigation that the cutting away tissue from the frontal lobes may relieve violent rages and psychological and physical pain, however “the results were ‘just not good’; he had seen for himself that after the surgery patients ‘don’t worry so much, but they’re gone as a person, just gone’” (p. 161). In 1941 her father authorized the procedure.  Larson states that if Rose gave her opinion about the procedure, Joseph did not listen; he authorized the lobotomy (p. 161).  This procedure left Rosemary with some handicaps and the mental capacity of a 2 year old. The parents hid Rosemary away, made excuses until after the election of their son to the Presidency.  They then said that she was mentally retarded, leaving out the truth.  After Rosemary’s father died in 1969 she began to be allowed to visit the family home. This tragic and unnecessary situation changed the way her brothers and sisters responded. It is credited with influencing Eunice to form the Special Olympics. I was quite horrified by the actions of parents. I am thankful that today we have parents and relatives of children who are working hard to help our children succeed and function in society at the level they are able. This is not an easy task. It takes hours, years and a life time of committed love! 

       Another book we are adding is written by a success story for a child with 
mental health or functioning challenges. Dr. Temple Grandin’s mother worked tirelessly to help Temple function with severe autism.  She fought for her and our lives have been changed by her victories! Temple has written a book, “The Way I See It: A Personal Look at Autism & Asperger’s.” This book outlines early detection, educational issues, sensory, nonverbal and behavior issues, social functioning, medical and bio-medical considerations, cognition and brain research, as well as adult and employment discussion. 
It looks to be easy to read, and informative. 

       The next book is “My Autistic Awakening: Unlocking the Potential for a Life Well Lived,” by Rachael Lee Harris.  It’s about Harris’ personal journey inside of autism.  She was “diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome, a type of high functioning autism” (p. xiii). She is another success story.  It did not come easy for her or her family.  Today, Rachael is a psychotherapist specializing. . .  in the autism spectrum (front flap).

     
The last is “In A Different Key: The Story of Autism,” by John Donvan
and Caren Zucker. This book is committed to telling the historical
timeline of the recognition of autism beginning in the 1930’s until today.
If you have a passion for this subject, you will want to consider how
far we have come and then where we are and may be in a few years!

New literature on Presidents and their administrations.

By the time you read this article, the President’s day holiday will have past.  However, this theme gives me the opportunity to share with you some interesting books that have been published recently. 

The first one that caught my eye was: “9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America: And Four Who Tried to Save Her,” by Brion McClanahan.  When I saw that title, I immediately asked, by whose perspective? What is the authors leaning and biases, how did he choose the nine he did.  As you read, you may be able to pick this out. If you want to know, look him up on the Internet.  I will not tell you who he writes about, because this might keep you from picking it up, and reading it.  You may not agree with everything he writes, but I find it important to consider the arguments and make my own conclusions on the basis of the information gleaned and other knowledge I bring to a discussion.  McClanahan provides notes for each chapter about the president he is writing about.  He also provides a bibliography and index. 

The next item is “Dead Presidents: An American Adventure Into the Strange Deaths and Surprising Afterlives of Our Nation’s Leaders,” by Brady Carlson. The author confesses to us that he came to this subject about dead presidents while visiting a monument at Oak Ridge in Springfield.  For years he was taken with the marble sarcophagus for President Lincoln.  Growing up he thought everyone visited to be inspired.  He found out that many came to be tourists not be inspired by these sites.  One time he visited this site he learned that Lincoln was not buried in the sarcophagus, but was ten to twelve feet below.  This began his search to find out “how we, the ages, choose to remember and memorialize our dead presidents. . . (p. 5). ” Carlson tells us that it is not the most famous, but the “obscure or mediocre presidents, “that give us really interesting stories of their circumstances in death” (p. 7). The author shares that this book starts “where most stories about the presidents leave off” (ibid.).

Another book you may not have seen is “1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History,” by Jay Winik.  This book is about how there were so many challenges and war front issues in 1944 that Roosevelt faced.  The front flap asks a few questions: “Was winning the war  the best way to rescue the Jews? Was a rescue even possible? Or would it get in the way of defeating Hitler? Then at the end of the book Winik states that we are still asking these basic questions with the atrocities we see around the world. He quotes Abraham Lincoln as stating, “We must think anew, and act anew . . . . Fellow citizens, we cannot escape history. We – even we here – hold the power, and bear the responsibility” (p. 536). Then he asks two questions in the last paragraph: “When will the Allies come? When will the Americans come?” (ibid.).

Other great books about presidents include: The Golden Lad: The Haunting Story of Quentin and Theodore Roosevelt,” by Eric Burns; “Eisenhower: A Life,” by Paul Johnson; “Jimmy Carter: A Full Life – Reflections at Ninety,” by Jimmy Carter; Reagan: The Life,” by H.W. Brands; “Lady Bird and Lyndon,” by Betty Boyd Caroli; “The Quartet: Orchestrating the Second American Revolution, 1783-1789,” by Joseph Ellis; “The Man Who Would Not Be Washington: Robert E. Lee’s Civil War and His Decision that Changed American History,” by Jonathan Horn. 

New Logo for Pioneer Memorial Library

Can I share with you something that I am personally excited about accomplishing? This new year the public will begin seeing a logo on our website, Facebook pages and in other ways.  The Pioneer Memorial Library has never had a logo before and we have been working on creating one that went with the motto for the library, “Bringing Words to Life!” It took a bit of work.  We wanted something simple and bright with the ability to be used in many ways.  If you look at our logo, you may ask why the stacked squares? The squares present a feeling of rising up from the words, so that life or energy is coming forth from the words. Squares also look a bit like books without being fussy. Stacked squares also look a bit like library shelves (or stacks as librarians call them). If you go into the library, on our themed wall you find squares that we have used with our motto. The colors go with the art work and colors inside the library that we currently enjoy, as well.

            We believe our motto has a fun way expressing the mission of Pioneer Memorial Library. Our mission statement states that, "We provide a broad coverage of and access to modern library resources, services, and programs in a variety of formats to meet the recreational, informational, and educational needs of community residents of all ages." We think that our motto aligns with our mission statement. “Bringing Words to Life!” highlights our primary objective which is to encourage the many ways ideas, knowledge, creativity and expressions are brought through differing mediums of materials: be they printed books, audio books, eBook, magazines, movies, music, art, technology such as databases that provide journals and magazines, video games, Internet access or creating new documents from scratch. It is also brought through programming provided by the library, through others or just through various meetings, personal conversations and encounters at the library. Our community member’s lives are enriched by all these expressions and more.