Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones

At Amazon, Jesmyn Ward, Salvage the Bones: A Novel.

Interview with Tayari Jones

Here's her book, Tayari Jones, An American Marriage: A Novel.

Yes, it's a progressive "Oprah Book Club" offering, but I read everything and this looks interesting.

At LAT, "Talking to Tayari Jones about 'An American Marriage' and Oprah":

“An American Marriage” is a departure from your previous novels, which mainly focused on younger characters. Your new book is about adults with complex problems. What was it like for you to work on this different canvas? It was super challenging. When I had written novels with younger characters, I was confident that I knew more than they did, so I felt I had distance from the subject matter and a wisdom about the conflicts. In writing this novel, the characters are nearly as old as I am, and they’re struggling with questions for which I wasn’t sure I had the answers. The writing was more of an exploration.

I also intimidated myself early in the process with all the research. I discovered horrible things about the American penal system, and at first I was trying to novelize my research. I don’t like to read things that feel like the novel version of a sociological text, but for a while I felt like if I didn’t incorporate all of my research, I was somehow not being true to my aim of discussing the problem. But that is the absolute wrong way to approach writing a novel. As they say, you should write about people and their problems, not about problems and their people. I learned way too much about the problem and I didn’t have the people. I was learning, but I wasn’t imagining.

Although Roy and Celestial are newly married at the start of the novel, their marriage isn’t idyllic. Roy still collects phone numbers from other women, Celestial doesn’t understand how much pressure her family’s wealth puts on Roy. What are the challenges of writing about a marriage that has yet to completely gel?

I didn’t find a challenge in that at all. I think a fairy-tale marriage is harder to write, because a fairy tale doesn’t resemble anything you’ve ever seen in real life. I just wrote the characters real.

For example: Celestial is an artist, she’s ambitious, she wants to chase her dream. Anyone who’s chased a dream knows it takes a lot of time and focus, particularly in the arts. And she can’t do that and be the dutiful caretaker of an incarcerated person. So she has to make choices. If someone asked you if she had the right to pursue her dreams, without mentioning her husband, you would say, “Of course!” If your marriage is keeping you from pursuing your dreams, you need a new marriage. But if you add that Roy is wrongfully incarcerated, then it’s almost like she’s being a negligent member of her community. How does one balance your commitment to the collective, and taking care of yourself? This is a balance I struggle with all the time. I think a lot of women do...

Skateboarding Dream at Empty Water-Park (VIDEO)

Via Drunken Stepfather:



BONUS: "KELLY BROOK’S HUGE TITS OF THE DAY."

When Will We Stop Killing Humans with Down Syndrome?

I really hate this "debate." In fact, I can't even believe it's a thing.

Here's Ruth Marcus, at WaPo, via Memeorandum, "I would've aborted a fetus with Down syndome. Women need that right."

But see Marc Thiessen, at Fox News, "Babies with Down syndrome have a right to life":

WASHINGTON -- When Karen Gaffney's mother found out she would be born with Down syndrome, the doctor said Karen probably would not be able to tie her own shoes. Instead, as Karen explained in a moving and eloquent TEDx talk, she has become an accomplished open-water swimmer who has crossed the English Channel in a relay race and completed the swimming leg of the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.

Now she fears the result of a new race -- the one to "find newer, faster ways" to screen for Down syndrome so that more children with the disability can be killed in the womb.

Her fears are well-founded. CBS News recently reported that Iceland was on the verge of "eliminating" Down syndrome. Unfortunately, there was no great medical breakthrough to report. Iceland, it turns out, is not eliminating Down syndrome; it is eliminating people with Down syndrome. The country's abortion rate for Down syndrome babies is close to 100 percent -- the highest in the world. Denmark is close behind at 98 percent. In the United States, it is 67 percent -- and Karen fears the rates here will soon reach European levels.

"Save our lives!" she pleads.

Sadly, there will always be those who see people with Down syndrome as nothing more than a burden on society. Princeton University professor Robert George recently tweeted out a shocking video in which a bureaucrat from Dutch National Institute for Public Health shows a man with Down syndrome on a blackboard how "expensive" he is for society compared to "normal" people. "Do the Dutch, who suffered under -- and in many cases heroically resisted -- Hitler's domination, forget that the 'final solution' began with the dehumanization and eugenic killing of the handicapped?" George asked.

Today, more and more people with Down syndrome are speaking out and demanding recognition of their humanity...

Keep reading.

Helen Smith, Men on Strike

At Amazon, Helen Smith, Men on Strike: Why Men Are Boycotting Marriage, Fatherhood, and the American Dream - and Why It Matters.

Julia Liepa

At Editorials Fashions Trends, "Julia Liepa by Sacha Leyendecker."

#Yountville: Gunman and 3 Hostages Dead at California Veterans Home

This is so awful.

At LAT, "Gunman, three hostages found dead at Yountville veterans facility: 'These brave women' killed."

Gold Box Deals

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Orangutan Smokes Cigarette (VIDEO)

This is the best, really!

If you aren't entertained and delighted by monkeys smoking, the GTFO of my timelinehttps://t.co/AvMYteq7ES

— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) March 9, 2018

Growing outrage after a zoo visitor tossed a lit cigarette into an orangutan enclosure, prompting the ape to pick it up and smoke it. More than 1M people signed a petition to shut down the zoo after the incident. The zoo says it regrets that it happened. https://t.co/faEjTfg6yN pic.twitter.com/IbEGoYnUWq

— ABC News (@ABC) March 8, 2018

President Trump 'Going Down as a Great President' with North Korea Denuclearization Gambit (VIDEO)

At RCP, "CNN's Erin Burnett: Trump Solving North Korea Problem Means "Going Down as a Great President."

Leftists hate this. Just absolutely hate that Trump could achieve an unprecedented, historic breakthrough on North Korea.

Allie Ayers Uncovered in Belize (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated Swimsuit:

The Women's March and Louis Farrakhan

At the Other McCain, "Jew-Hating as ‘Intersectionality’? The Women’s March Farrakhan Problem."

Sofia Resing in Nice Bathing Suit

At Taxi Driver, "Sofia Resing Pokies and Cameltoe in Wet Bathing Suit."

American Men Are Failing

This is actually sort of depressing.

Watch, from Tucker's show last night:

I Got My News From Print Newspapers

This is great, from Farhad Manjoo, "For Two Months, I Got My News From Print Newspapers. Here’s What I Learned":

I spent 2 months getting the news mostly from print. It changed my life.

I was better informed, less anxious, and I had tons of free time.

I distilled the experience into three Michael Pollan-esque lessons:

Get news. Not too quickly. Avoid social.https://t.co/09A1Q3vzBK

— Farhad Manjoo: not really on here a lot now (@fmanjoo) March 7, 2018

I first got news of the school shooting in Parkland, Fla., via an alert on my watch. Even though I had turned off news notifications months ago, the biggest news still somehow finds a way to slip through.

But for much of the next 24 hours after that alert, I heard almost nothing about the shooting.

There was a lot I was glad to miss. For instance, I didn’t see the false claims — possibly amplified by propaganda bots — that the killer was a leftist, an anarchist, a member of ISIS and perhaps just one of multiple shooters. I missed the Fox News report tying him to Syrian resistance groups even before his name had been released. I also didn’t see the claim circulated by many news outlets (including The New York Times) as well as by Senator Bernie Sanders and other liberals on Twitter that the massacre had been the 18th school shooting of the year, which wasn’t true.

Instead, the day after the shooting, a friendly person I’ve never met dropped off three newspapers at my front door. That morning, I spent maybe 40 minutes poring over the horror of the shooting and a million other things the newspapers had to tell me.

Not only had I spent less time with the story than if I had followed along as it unfolded online, I was better informed, too. Because I had avoided the innocent mistakes — and the more malicious misdirection — that had pervaded the first hours after the shooting, my first experience of the news was an accurate account of the actual events of the day.

This has been my life for nearly two months. In January, after the breaking-newsiest year in recent memory, I decided to travel back in time. I turned off my digital news notifications, unplugged from Twitter and other social networks, and subscribed to home delivery of three print newspapers — The Times, The Wall Street Journal and my local paper, The San Francisco Chronicle — plus a weekly newsmagazine, The Economist.

I have spent most days since then getting the news mainly from print, though my self-imposed asceticism allowed for podcasts, email newsletters and long-form nonfiction (books and magazine articles). Basically, I was trying to slow-jam the news — I still wanted to be informed, but was looking to formats that prized depth and accuracy over speed.

It has been life changing. Turning off the buzzing breaking-news machine I carry in my pocket was like unshackling myself from a monster who had me on speed dial, always ready to break into my day with half-baked bulletins.

Now I am not just less anxious and less addicted to the news, I am more widely informed (though there are some blind spots). And I’m embarrassed about how much free time I have — in two months, I managed to read half a dozen books, took up pottery and (I think) became a more attentive husband and father.

Most of all, I realized my personal role as a consumer of news in our broken digital news environment...

I too have been limited my online and social news gathering. Not completely, but I've always favored news in hard-copy form. I especially like the more deliberative style of news reading you get, the morning paper with a cup of coffee.

Anyways, I totally recommend it. There's a lot less stress, and particularly a lot less hatred.

Until then!

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Sexy Camille Kostek (VIDEO)

At Sports Illustrated:

Academy Awards Ratings Collapse

At Deadline Hollywood, Oscar Ratings Down Double Digits As Viewership Hits All-Time Low With 26.5 Million.

And Sabo below:

Oscar Ratings Down, Eye All-Time Low In Early Estimates https://t.co/e3G3f1anvs pic.twitter.com/SCg42pqjHN

— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) March 5, 2018

THREE BILLBOARDS:https://t.co/6rUJDXFUQT

— unsavoryagents (@unsavoryagents) March 5, 2018

Two Op-Eds

From Andrew Klavan, at Pajamas, "Two Op-Eds Draw A Stark Portrait of Left vs. Right." (Via Ed Driscoll, at Instapundit.)

Europe Struggles with the Rise of Populist Nationalism

The tide of national populism doesn't seem to be ebbing.

At WaPo, "Italy election results highlight struggle to govern in Europe as populist forces rise":

Italy election results highlight struggle to govern in Europe as populist forces rise https://t.co/qiBctn6YWS

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) March 5, 2018

BERLIN — After voters from the snowy peaks of the Alps to the sunny shores of Sicily delivered a verdict so fractured and mysterious it could take months to sort out, the banner headline Monday in the venerable daily La Stampa captured the state of a nation that’s left no one in charge: “Ungovernable Italy.”

The same can increasingly be said for vast stretches of Europe.

Across the continent, a once-durable dichotomy is dissolving. Fueled by anger over immigration, a backlash against the European Union and resentment of an out-of-touch elite, anti-establishment parties are taking votes left, right and center from the traditional power players.

They generally aren’t winning enough support to govern. But they are claiming such a substantial share of the electorate that it has become all but impossible for the establishment to govern on its own. The result is a continent caught in a netherworld between a dying political order and a new one still taking root.

“This has been a post-ideological result, beyond the traditional left-right divide,” said Luigi Di Maio, whose populist Five Star Movement trounced its opponents to become Italy’s largest party on Monday.

Now the country has plunged into uncertainty.

“The traditional structures of political alignment in Europe are breaking down,” said Josef Janning, head of the Berlin office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “It started in the smaller countries. But now we see that it’s happening everywhere.”

Even in Germany, the ultimate postwar symbol of staid political stability.

As Italians were voting Sunday, Germans were learning they would finally have a government, a record five months after they went to the polls.

The establishment had hung on. But just barely, and with no evident enthusiasm, either from the voters or from the centrist politicians who will continue to lead the country even as the public increasingly gravitates to the margins.

A similar phenomenon can be seen in countries from east to west, north to south. It took the Dutch 208 days to form an ideologically messy four-way coalition last year after an election in which 13 parties won seats in the parliament.

The Czechs still do not have a functioning government after voting in October yielded an unwieldy parliament populated by anti-immigrant hard-liners, pro-market liberals, communists, and loose alliance of libertarians, anarchists and coders known as the Pirates.

The fragmentation of European politics takes what had been seen as one of the continent’s great strengths and turns it on its head. Unlike the United States and Britain, where winners take all, continental Europe primarily use proportional systems in which the full spectrum of popular opinion is represented in office.

That worked fairly well when the major parties captured some 80 or 90 percent of the vote, as they did in countries across Europe for decades after World War II.

But lately, the major parties have been downsized.

In Germany, the so-called “grand coalition” won just 53 percent of the vote — hardly grand. In Italy, neither of the two traditionally dominant centrist parties cracked 20 percent. A grand coalition is not even mathematically possible.

The trend has become self-reinforcing.

And the authors haven't even mentioned Austria yet, which has a "far-right" coalition now in power.

But keep reading.