4th of July Weekend

The weekend began with flags at half-mast.  A 34-year-old policeman died from a gunshot and his partner was also critically injured.  Officer Miguel Moreno and his partner stopped near SAC on Thursday to question someone behaving suspiciously and the person shot both policemen then himself.  I looked long at the picture of the deceased policeman--a young man with a bright face, nine years into his career, senselessly killed.  Somebody's son, somebody's grandson, and brother to four.

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Elena spent this Saturday morning with me while her mama did yoga.  We discovered a new children's series on Netflix: Free Rein, an excellently-written story about young teenaged girls and horses.  Zoe, the protagonist, reminded me of Elena (long curly hair and a love of horses), and Elena noticed the similarity.  She was entranced by the story of a courageous, outspoken girl who was the only person who could manage a run-away horse.  "I'm like her," she said.  "I'm not afraid of any animals.  I even like the animals you think are gross." (I think she was thinking of possums.)

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After Elena left, I drove to Bill Miller's to get a sandwich and stopped at a festive lemonade stand two blocks down my street.  I hope they get lots of customers.  This is a day these two kids will remember when they're old--setting up balloons and flags and banners with their mama and daddy standing off to the side.

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I'm staying out of the heat reading Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance.  It's hard to put down.  My daddy often told stories of growing up poor in a "holler" in Tennessee, and the hollow (pronounced "holler" there, too) Vance remembers was in Kentucky.  In both cases, some of the children grew up and got college degrees and achieved middle class lifestyles that were almost impossible to imagine in their youth.

This book starts with the story of being raised by his grandparents, Mamaw and Papaw.  They were part of the hillbilly migration to Ohio (married at 14 and 17) to find work.  Papaw became, among other things, a mean drunk; Mamaw was ferocious as well--except to children whom she adored.

The book is also a vivid and fascinating portrait of Appalachian poor people and the history of Vance's people.  He knew the famous Hatfields and McCoys.

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