Maid

Recently I'd seen an author interview on MSNBC that intrigued me, and I purchased the book being reviewed "Maid" and then recommended it to our local book club. I enjoyed the book. Then, as it turns out, it was made into a mini-series by Netflix and several parts and I was blown away by it. The mini-series is excellent and really makes you feel the story. Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother's Will to Survive by Stephanie Land, Barbara Ehrenreich NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AND INSPIRATION FOR THE NETFLIX LIMITED SERIES, HAILED BY ROLLING STONE AS "A GREAT ONE." "A single mother's personal, unflinching look at America's class divide, a description of the tightrope many families walk just to get by, and a reminder of the dignity of all work." -PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, Obama's Summer Reading List At 28, Stephanie Land's dreams of attending a university and becoming a writer quickly dissolved when a summer fling turned into an unplanned pregnancy. Before long, she found herself a single mother, scraping by as a housekeeper to make ends meet. Maid is an emotionally raw, masterful account of Stephanie's years spent in service to upper middle class America as a "nameless ghost" who quietly shared in her clients' triumphs, tragedies, and deepest secrets. Driven to carve out a better life for her family, she cleaned by day and took online classes by night, writing relentlessly as she worked toward earning a college degree. She wrote of the true stories that weren't being told: of living on food stamps and WIC coupons, of government programs that barely provided housing, of aloof government employees who shamed her for receiving what little assistance she did. Above all else, she wrote about pursuing the myth of the American Dream from the poverty line, all the while slashing through deep-rooted stigmas of the working poor. Maid is Stephanie's story, but it's not hers alone. It is an inspiring testament to the courage, determination, and ultimate strength of the human spirit.

Lunch at Goodriches with friends 😄

Our good friends Mel and Dotti and Duane and Nancy joined us for a nice lunch at Goodriches Oyster Bar. Friends like these are a treasure.

The Great American Trailer Park at the Shuler Stage

Yesterday we saw The Great American Trailer Park at Titusvile Playhouse's new 2nd Stage, The Shuler Stage. What a hoot! https://photos.app.goo.gl/WVqowTYsbCBSctDZA

Jonathan Dickerson State Park jaunt...

We just got back on Sept. 23rd from a few days at Jonathan Dickerson State Park in Jupiter Florida. A great facility and we're planning on going back when it's a bit cooler. Photo's here

The passing of friends....

Within the last few weeks I've found out three friends have died, from three seperate chapters of my life. The one I just heard about actually died in March....and I didn't kbow until today after hearing from her son-in-law. Her name is Joanne Quarz and for the last few decades she's lived in Las Vegas. Back in the day, when I was an Allstate Agent, she was one of my business partners when we formed a partnership .... Joanne, myself, and Marcia Spakoski opened and operated a Neighborhood Office on the Thames River in Groton CT. We were partners for several years, until I decided to go on my own and opened an office (with my wife Alice) on Broad Street in New London. Both Marcia and Joanne stayed together until their eventual retirement. Another friend who passed, who I only found out about from a note of a mutual fiiend, was John Martins. Our friendship goes back to the early Lions Club days...and possibly Jaycee's?. John, on his retirement moved to South Florida which is where he died. There was no local (CT) obituary that I could find and I wouldn't have known except for Bill Long's kind note to me. The last one, and this is recent in the last few days, was on my friend John Silong. John is a Florida friend from the old Space Coast Sams Good Sams Chapter we both belonged to. The Good Sam Chapter was another chapter in my own life, and I feel I'm losing people from early and late chapters of my own. Funerals, and that opportunity to reminice with old friends and toast the dearly departed, seem to have gone away...leaving uncomfortable voids in our sence of well being.

Mortality

Recd a note from a long-time friend in CT yesterday that one in our old group (Lions, Jaycee's in East Lyme, CT) had passed :(. https://www.glickfamilyfuneralhome.com/obituary/John-Martins Made me think back to some very good memories of a good person who was wicked smart and a joy to be with. Missing John Martins.

Back to the theater!

Robert R. Payette 9h · Shared with Public Last night we attended the Titusville Playhouse (TPI) production of BRKLYN, the Musical and it was wonderful! Excellent and heart-felt performances by an incredible cast and excellent staging. I told Alice "If there's anyone who doesn't really enjoy this show there's something wrong with them", as it is probably their best effort for the entire season which this show ended. It was really nice to be back in the theater post-pandemic restrictions. The little tables are back, the plastic partitions are gone, and the bar is open. If you can get tickets do yourself a favor and go. There are NO bad seats in the house, and you'll walk out smiling a lot.