Two

There's only one area where our spending is out of control. It's books and to a smaller extent, magazines. They're everywhere in our house, in every room including the bathroom. Mostly in the bathroom it's magazines except for two books: Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes which only shares the same title as the movie. The two are nothing alike. The other book is something new I bought this summer, Animal Vegetable Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. I've read both of these books, not on the crapper in fits and grunts of breath but elsewhere in comfort and often with cookies nearby. Keeping them close during the regular bathroom visit allows me to reread just about any passage in either book and hope that as I expell what needs to be gone, that I can ingest seamless sentence structure and a rhythm to my writing that makes others envious. Neither one of those gals ever talk about taking a dump in their books. I am still a work in progress.
Most of the time, that is where my Oprah Magazine is housed. I'm a big fan of LaOprah---the show and the mag. The articles are diverse and fairly lengthy. The interviews are interesting to read and the features are always engaging. I especially like the book reviews and the piece at the end, What I Know For Sure which Oprah writes giving us her grounded philosophy on a great many things despite the fact that she is richer that God. The AHA Moment feature is farmed out to guest writers, mostly entertainment celebrities where they share a moment of clarity that helped them personally. This month it was Celine Dion's AHA moment. Apparently when Renee, her husband, was diagnosed with skin cancer, Celine found the inner strength to decide things for herself (like what song to pick and how a technician should light her) and to keep his spirits up plus take care of her son. With the help of her staff of 150. I should say now that I've never been a fan and not just because her ferret-like facial features annoy me, along with that voice. It's her whole aura.
A better aha moment could have been written by a teacher friend of mine with a chronically ill son who manages to come in to work, day in and day out and do her job with such poise and grace. She has experienced a few of those aha moments and I'd like to know the source of her revelation to excavate that kind of strength. I'd like the aha moment from that woman (she was on Oprah a few years back) who managed to forgive the man who killed her son. I'd love to read about that kind of compassion, the one moment that led her to that decision.
Which leads me to believe that the next thing I write might be to O Magazine to scold them on such a lame selection for the AHA piece. Didn't know how pissed I was about it until I wrote this. Freaky.