Nostalgia

While I was aware of their music earlier, I first became enamored of Deep Purple by name when, as a freshman in college, my Russian friend, Eddie Dubinsky, played Child in Time for me.

During the 70s, I had spent hours upon hours listening to and memorizing Jesus Christ Superstar and, upon hearing Child in Time, I immediately recognized Ian Gillan's distinctive wail.

Since I haven't paid much attention since, I wasn't aware that they were still producing new music and touring. At least, not until I got an email yesterday announcing that they'll be appearing at the Belly Up here in Aspen on August 20.

I've already got my tickets.

Ignorance is bliss?

100% blade-free Lasik experience.

And what an experience . . .

I get queasy easily, especially when dealing with medical injuries, procedures and descriptions. The irony is that I work in the medical profession. The truth is that if the above weren't true, I'd be a clinician, not an administrator.

Given my queasiness aptitude, I purposefully opted to remain ignorant about what Lasik entailed. As I said to one of my doctor friends, "What can you tell me about Lasik while telling me nothing about Lasik?"

Her response, which was perfect, was, "You'll love it!"

She meant the result, not the procedure.

The best thing I can say about the procedure is that it didn't take long. A few minutes. At most.

I really didn't like the procedure. Thank god, they gave me Valium. Thank god, it also occurred to me to engage in what I can only describe as meditation breathing techniques to keep myself calm.

Not that I know any meditation breathing techniques.

I basically passed out when the erroneous thought crossed my mind that I might have to go back under one of the lasers. This lead to me being quickly placed on a Lazy Boy with an oxygen cannula affixed to my face.

So inconvenient for the surgeon who already had his next patient waiting. Quite the assembly line.

There was also a moment pre-procedure when it looked like I was going to be denied. The surgeon's office also does a corneal thickness test and mine was wacky. It showed my thinnest spot in a place where no one's thinnest spot is. If this had been a year ago, they would have turned me away but now, they have a newer machine so they did another scan on it and it contradicted the first machine's result. We were good to go.

Now, if you're considering this procedure, don't let my negativity above dissuade you. There was never any pain, simply discomfort. It didn't hurt. Ever. Not during or after. The first laser necessitated a suction thingy which served the purpose of keeping my eyes open. That involved a fair amount of pressure. Both lasers are placed against the face so there's a small amount of claustrophobia.

During the first part of the procedure, the surgeon remarked on the death grip I had on the gurney railing.

Some patients have repeat procedures done for enhancement purposes. Not sure I could go there. If I was faced with that situation, I might just have to live with less than optimal results. I'm really not sure.

And yet, with all of that being said, I am glad that I did it. I am quite pleased with the results. My vision is now basically 20/15. I can see without vision aids for the first time since 1969.

It's pretty damn cool.

I love it

Hairspray

For what it's worth, Rachel is seeing the movie again right now for the third time in three days. She's paid for the last two herself. At full price.

We all saw it together on Sunday night. Steve says it's the best musical he's seen.

I also enjoyed it, particularly given the time frame, a month after my birth, and the cross cultural storyline.

It was fun and triumphant and managed to totally avoid the angst which could have easily resulted from a storyline involving a pleasantly plump girl trying to compete with the beauty pageant types.

The John Waters' touches, all the little incongruities and outlandish lines, simply sealed the deal.

Rachel has just returned and informed me that she's seeing it again on Friday . . .

NEW BUMPER STICKERS FOR 07

An email that's making the rounds (forwarded to me courtesy of Susie):

NEW BUMPER STICKERS FOR 07

1. Bush: End of an Error

2. That's OK, I Wasn't Using My Civil Liberties Anyway

3. Let's Fix Democracy in this Country First

4. If You Want a Nation Ruled By Religion, Move to Iran

5. Bush. Like a Rock. Only Dumber.

6. If You Can Read This, You're Not Our President

7. Of Course It Hurts: You're Getting Screwed by an Elephant!

8. Hey, Bush Supporters: Embarrassed Yet?

9. George Bush: Creating the Terrorists Our Kids Will Have to Fight

10. Impeachment: It's Not Just for Blow Jobs Anymore

11. America: One Nation, Under Surveillance

12. They Call Him "W" So He Can Spell It

13. Whose God Do You Kill For?

14. Jail to the Chief

15. No, Seriously, Why Did We Invade Iraq?

16. Bush: God's Way of Proving Intelligent Design is Full Of Crap

17. Bad President! No Banana.

18. We Need a President Who's Fluent In At Least One Language

19. We're Making Enemies Faster Than We Can Kill Them

20. Is It Vietnam Yet?

21. Bush Doesn't Care About White People, Either

22. Where Are We Going? And Why Are We In This Handbasket?

23. You Elected Him. You Deserve Him.

24. Dub'ya, Your Dad Should'a Pulled Out, too!

25. When Bush Took Office, Gas Was $1.46

26. Pray For Impeachment

27. The Republican Party: Our Bridge to the 11th Century

28. What Part of "Bush Lied" Don't You Understand?

29. One Nation Under Clod

30. 2004: Embarrassed. 2005: Horrified. 2006: Terrified

31. Bush Never Exhaled

32. At Least Nixon Resigned

Video diary

I've uploaded Rachel's videos from her trip (until her video camera broke) to YouTube. Just click on the link and you should find 24 videos. Most of them are very short.

But the best one is here.

I've also uploaded all 717 of her pictures to Kodak Gallery. The link should take you right there (if it works right . . . )

Current PostSecret favorites

All done

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Got it at approximately 4 pm this afternoon (after making four trips to my office since I forgot to have Amazon deliver it to my house).

Finished it at 11:37 pm.

And, yes, I cried.

A couple of times.

Fabulous!

Rachel's going to kill me . . .

Rachel wants me to tell you that she's lip syncing to "I Write Sins, not Tragedies" by Panic! at the Disco.

No Footprints in the Sand - A memoir of Kalaupapa by Henry Kalalahilimoku Nalaieula

Wow, what a different perspective.

Henry is a naturally positive person and this shines through on every page of his memoir. The same undercurrents are present but Henry makes lemonade while Olivia Breitha in My Life of Exile in Kalaupapa communicates her anger. Their different temperaments help explain why Olivia broke so totally with John Tayman, the author of The Colony, while Henry did not. Olivia internalizes perceived slights and insults. They just bounce off Henry. It's ironic since Tayman's message is really much more aligned with Olivia's.

Since Henry had a co-author, Sally-Jo Bowman, his book is much more polished than Olivia's.

Henry's book made me wish I had visited Kalaupapa when he was a tour guide for Damien Tours. It would have been a great experience.

Whew!

Ever since Eric's July 11th comment on my July 10th post, I've been preparing myself for the possibility that I might be driving back from Denver next week utterly disappointed.

While that possibility still exists, the chances have dramatically lessened as of this afternoon.

I passed my initial corneal thickness test!

My optometrist performs the pachymetry test as part of the requisite pre-operative physical and my bilateral corneal thicknesses are above the acceptable minimum. Sweet!

I also found out that my left eye is dominant. The test for this would make quite the low cost parlor trick. It basically involves looking through your hands at a spot.

After discussing my options with my optometrist, I'm opting not to do the monovision. Its potential impact on my depth perception could be problematic considering how active I still like to be. I'm uncoordinated enough when it comes to skiing and biking. I don't need to make it any more difficult.

The only bummer is that right now I can't see for crap because my pupils are dilated and I have a contract I need to review tonight in preparation for a 7 am meeting tomorrow.

My face is about six inches from my laptop screen as I type this . . .

A unique experience

I mentioned that we saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in Grand Junction on Friday night.

Rachel and I both had medium Icees (only they don't call them Icees) and by about 3/4 of the way through the movie, we were both really uncomfortable.

Steve told us that we were going to have to wait a while which I hoped was not the case. I asked Rachel who is incredibly well versed in all things Harry Potter and she informed us that there wasn't too much left in the storyline.

Steve looked puzzled but shrugged.

A little while later, as the credits began to roll, Rachel, who was more uncomfortable than I was, sprinted out of the theater as I turned to Steve who looked very confused.

"That's it?," he asked. "That's the very end? That's how the entire Harry Potter saga ends?"

Huh??

Ohhhhhhh.

He had gotten the movie confused with the upcoming book and had sat through the entire movie thinking that he was watching the final chapter. For a moment towards the end of the movie, he thought Harry Potter was dead. While he has seen the movies, he hasn't read any of the books except for the first one and he wasn't very current on the Harry Potter buzz.

After catching him up, I chuckled and pointed out to him that he had had a different experience from every other person in the movie theater.

This week's favorite

At Rachel's insistence, we went to Harry Potter on Friday night in Grand Junction as soon as Rachel got off the plane from traveling for 24 hours straight (before we drove the two hours home).

My reactions to white privilege

Here's what I wrote in 1996 to my friend in response to his providing me a copy of Peggy McIntosh's essay:

Thanks so much for the McIntosh paper. I was aware of her work and appreciated the opportunity to read her writing myself.

I must admit that I was initially slightly offended at what I perceived to be your assumption that I was oblivious to white privilege. I mean, I don’t know about other white women, but it was not possible for me to be involved with black men for the past fifteen years and not achieve some level of awareness of the everyday situations in which I benefitted because of the color of my skin.

On the flip side, because of the social situations I chose to place myself in, my skin color often became a detriment. But I do realize that this was my choice and that most blacks do not have a similar option. As Midge Wilson and Kathy Russell said in their book, Divided Sisters, “There is also a growing recognition that Whites are able to choose whether or not to have a racial identity. That is, for many Whites, RACE is something that only Blacks have.” (p. 42). For the most part, this describes how I grew up. Race was a total non-issue. It was not until I reached college and started crossing racial lines (by my choice) that race became something I had too. Now, of course, by virtue of my daughter (again my choice), race is something I will always have.

My initial reaction to your letter passed quickly as I realized that I always welcome the opportunity to broaden my perspective. In this case the idea of white privilege being damaging to whites was an idea I had not previously explored.

In my (white) naivete, I would prefer to see my skin color privilege as something to share; that the goal is not to remove any of my privilege but to make it more broadly available. The cynics among us (and perhaps the realists too) would probably see this as comical and farcical. But I guess my desire mirrors McIntosh’s statements about positive advantages or unearned entitlements. “We might at least start by distinguishing between positive advantages which we can work to spread, to the point where they are not advantages at all but simeply part of the normal civic and social fabric . . .”

The thorny issue of negative privilege or conferred dominance and how to combat it is much more difficult for me to visualize in concrete terms. McIntosh says, “To redesign social systems we need first to acknowledge their colossal unseen dimension.” While I can conceive of and implement ways to facilitate this acknowledgement, it is the next step that stops me in my tracks. McIntosh poses the question, “What will we do with such knowledge?” I extend that to: How do I use my “arbitrarily-awarded power to try to reconstruct power systems on a broader base”? It is at this point that I begin to feel insignificant, to feel powerless. What difference can I as one individual make to the power system?

The Invisible Knapsack

Not sure why this came to mind recently but I was first made aware of this essay in 1996 when I was active with the Biracial Family Network in Chicago.


I found it illuminating.

A partial list of the daily effects of white privilege from Peggy McIntosh's 1988 article, White Privilege and Male Privilege, also known as Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack:

1. I can if I wish arrange to be in the company of people of my race most of the time.

2. I can avoid spending time with people whom I was trained to mistrust and who have learned to mistrust my kind or me.

3. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure of renting or purchasing housing in an area which I can afford and in which I would want to live.

4. I can be pretty sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.

5. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed or harassed.

6. I can turn on the television or open to the front page of the paper and see people of my race widely represented.

7. When I am told about our national heritage or about "civilization," I am shown that people of my color made it what it is.

8. I can be sure that my children will be given curricular materials that testify to the existence of their race.

9. If I want to, I can be pretty sure of finding a publisher for this piece on white privilege.

10. I can be pretty sure of having my voice heard in a group in which I am the only member of my race.

11. I can be casual about whether or not to listen to another person's voice in a group in which s/he is the only member of his/her race.

12. I can go into a music shop and count on finding the music of my race represented, into a supermarket and find the staple foods which fit with my cultural traditions, into a hairdresser's shop and find someone who can cut my hair.

13. Whether I use checks, credit cards or cash, I can count on my skin color not to work against the appearance of financial reliability.

14. I can arrange to protect my children most of the time from people who might not like them.

15. I do not have to educate my children to be aware of systemic racism for their own daily physical protection.

16. I can be pretty sure that my children's teachers and employers will tolerate them if they fit school and workplace norms; my chief worries about them do not concern others' attitudes toward their race.

17. I can talk with my mouth full and not have people put this down to my color.

18. I can swear, or dress in second hand clothes, or not answer letters, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.

19. I can speak in public to a powerful male group without putting my race on trial.

20. I can do well in a challenging situation without being called a credit to my race.

21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

22. I can remain oblivious of the language and customs of persons of color who constitute the world's majority without feeling in my culture any penalty for such oblivion.

23. I can criticize our government and talk about how much I fear its policies and behavior without being seen as a cultural outsider.

24. I can be pretty sure that if I ask to talk to the "person in charge", I will be facing a person of my race.

25. If a traffic cop pulls me over or if the IRS audits my tax return, I can be sure I haven't been singled out because of my race.

26. I can easily buy posters, post-cards, picture books, greeting cards, dolls, toys and children's magazines featuring people of my race.

27. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, rather than isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance or feared.

28. I can be pretty sure that an argument with a colleague of another race is more likely to jeopardize her/his chances for advancement than to jeopardize mine.

29. I can be pretty sure that if I argue for the promotion of a person of another race, or a program centering on race, this is not likely to cost me heavily within my present setting, even if my colleagues disagree with me.

30. If I declare there is a racial issue at hand, or there isn't a racial issue at hand, my race will lend me more credibility for either position than a person of color will have.

31. I can choose to ignore developments in minority writing and minority activist programs, or disparage them, or learn from them, but in any case, I can find ways to be more or less protected from negative consequences of any of these choices.

32. My culture gives me little fear about ignoring the perspectives and powers of people of other races.

33. I am not made acutely aware that my shape, bearing or body odor will be taken as a reflection on my race.

34. I can worry about racism without being seen as self-interested or self-seeking.

35. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without having my co-workers on the job suspect that I got it because of my race.

36. If my day, week or year is going badly, I need not ask of each negative episode or situation whether it had racial overtones.

37. I can be pretty sure of finding people who would be willing to talk with me and advise me about my next steps, professionally.

38. I can think over many options, social, political, imaginative or professional, without asking whether a person of my race would be accepted or allowed to do what I want to do.

39. I can be late to a meeting without having the lateness reflect on my race.

40. I can choose public accommodation without fearing that people of my race cannot get in or will be mistreated in the places I have chosen.

41. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, my race will not work against me.

42. I can arrange my activities so that I will never have to experience feelings of rejection owing to my race.

43. If I have low credibility as a leader I can be sure that my race is not the problem.

44. I can easily find academic courses and institutions which give attention only to people of my race.

45. I can expect figurative language and imagery in all of the arts to testify to experiences of my race.

46. I can chose blemish cover or bandages in "flesh" color and have them more or less match my skin.

47. I can travel alone or with my spouse without expecting embarrassment or hostility in those who deal with us.

48. I have no difficulty finding neighborhoods where people approve of our household.

49. My children are given texts and classes which implicitly support our kind of family unit and do not turn them against my choice of domestic partnership.

50. I will feel welcomed and "normal" in the usual walks of public life, institutional and social.

More PostSecret favorites

Olivia, My LIfe of Exile in Kalaupapa by Olivia Robello Breitha

In The Colony, John Tayman focuses on a handful of more contemporary residents of Kalaupapa, one of whom was Olivia Robello Breitha.

After becoming aware of Breitha's falling out with Tayman and disillusionment with his book, I decided that, in the interest of equal time, I must read her book also.

Breitha's book is a heartfelt, primary source accounting which borderlines on defensiveness while regaling the reader with stories, most of which serve to dramatically underline the inhumanity of the experience.

In this way, Breitha and Tayman seem to be soulmates. So, why did Breitha object so vehemently to Tayman's book?

Breitha, who passed away in January of 2006, was a prickly, proud woman. This comes through time and again in her writing. As best as I can tell, her reaction to Tayman was born out of the sentiment that "Only I'm allowed to talk bad about my (fill in the blank)." The exiles of Kalaupapa were victims of an inhumane system and lacked control over so much in their lives that they desire to control their stories and to not be portrayed merely as victims by others.

Breitha balances each episode of victimization she recounts with another episode wherein she flouts or challenges authority.

The writing is raw and amateurish but the authentic voice of a survivor of Kalaupapa rings through.

Four eyes

I was first diagnosed with myopia in 1970 after it was noticed that I squinted a lot and sat very close to the TV.

I first put contacts (hard contacts in those days) in my eyes in 1976 (and almost immediately gave myself bilateral corneal abrasions by not adhering to the adjustment schedule mandated by my ophthalmologist).

31 years later, I have most likely taken my contacts out for the very last time this very evening. (-6.00 correction, I'll have you know)

Two weeks from tomorrow, I'm scheduled to have IntraLase Lasik surgery at the Dishler Institute in Denver.

The first step to Lasik surgery, after scheduling the appointment, that is, is to stop wearing contact lenses for 14 days prior to surgery.

I used to wear my contact lenses for months on end. I slept in them. I put my glasses in storage in 1992 and didn't lay eyes on them again until 2006.

A year ago, it would not have been possible for me to go 2 weeks without wearing my contacts since I didn't have anything to use in their stead.

And now, here I am, basically done with my contacts for good.

The hardest part of the next two weeks will be dealing with the sun since I don't have prescription sunglasses and it certainly doesn't make any sense to get them now.

The thing I'm looking forward to the most is lying in bed looking out the glass doors at the stars in our dark Colorado night skies. I haven't been able to enjoy this since I stopped wearing my contacts to bed (at my optometrist's insistence).

Rousseau's Dog: Two Great Thinkers at War in the Age of Enlightenment by David Edmonds and John Eidinow

In a bit of a continuing on with a theme, having recently read The Courtier and the Heretic, I jumped at Rousseau's Dog when I happened upon it at The Tattered Cover in May.

A wise move.

Reading of the follies of these two "great thinkers," these two revered men, humanized them for me and brought me past the usual one dimensional assessment of great men to the confirmation that great men are often great in spite of their foibles.

Rousseau's Dog is the story of the falling out and resulting bitter enmity of Jean Jacques Rousseau and David Hume.

I read fascinated and a bit disgusted as Rousseau's paranoia led him to concoct a conspiracy where there was none. I grudgingly came to the acceptance that Hume's faults also contributed to the outcome in large measure. I ended up with the thought that some things are inevitable.

Edmonds and Eidinow present just enough of these two men's philosophies to introduce the reader to their dramatic differences and just enough to perhaps whet the reader's appetite for a bit more research.

While I have seen it disparaged in literary reviews, notably Janet Maslin's review in the New York Times, I was quite intrigued by the beast referenced in the title. I enjoyed puzzling out the dual significance of Rousseau's dog or dogs as it were.

In contrast to the Courtier and the Heretic, I did not slog as much while reading Rousseau's Dog. With more of a focus on the events which transpired and less of a primer on the philosophers' contributions to the field, Rousseau's Dog was a more engaging read.

After reading and digesting it, I perused the back cover and was struck by the truth of the blurb from the Boston Globe, "[a] beach book for the brainy set, engaging and erudite."

What the . . .????

This ad has been running this past week in our local paper. Huh?

Conundrum for the Ages

"If the Cubs are so bad, how come they have so many fans?"

(as heard on today's Weekend Edition Saturday)

No boom on Smuggler

It appears that my supposition the other day was spot on . . .

No boom on Smuggler

ASPEN — Because of current fire bans, the traditional 6 a.m. July Fourth cannon blast on Smuggler Mountain didn't happen this year.

Chris Preusch, president of New Smuggler Mining Co., said he talked with area fire officials in the run-up to the holiday and at the last minute decided not to set off the early morning blast.

"When we rock the snot out of Aspen, then every amateur pyrotechnician decides it's OK," Preusch said. "It's kind of like leading the way ... giving the green light."

Preusch said it would have been safe to fire the cannon, but it sets a bad example, and Preusch did not want to add to the worries of area officials.

"Given the way the summer's going and with the fire ban, we're finding it's better to be a better citizen of the community," Preusch said.

And while it's not the first July Fourth the cannon has gone silent, Preusch said it's been five or six years.

Former Smuggler Mine owner Stefan Albouy had the four-barrel steel cannon forged in Denver to commemorate the U.S. Bicentennial in 1976, Preusch said. Albouy began the practice to maintain the long-standing miner's tradition of blowing up powder kegs to celebrate the holiday. (Charles Agar)

Rachel's Itinerary

I'm posting Rachel's European Odyssey itinerary each day on her blog so if you're interested, you can follow along.

Alexander

I watched Alexander the other night.

I had forgotten that it was directed by Oliver Stone. I turned it on at 7:15 thinking that I would be done before bedtime.

Wrong. Oliver Stone doesn't know how to make a movie under 3 hours. (ok, that may be a gross overstatement but still . . .)

The other thing Oliver Stone can't resist is a hint (or more) of conspiracy. He not very subtly hints that Alexander's mother was responsible for his father's death and that Alexander, rather than dying of a fever, was poisoned.

Poetic license?

I don't know but I do know that each time Stone started hinting at conspiracy, I started thinking, "Oh, there he goes again."

I fastforwarded through the battle scenes, of which, surprisingly, there were only two but they were extremely graphic and bloody. Since Alexander's story is, for the most part, a story of battles and conquest, I did appreciate Stone's decision not to emphasize the fighting.

Stone did a decent job of illuminating the difficulties Alexander faced in knowing whom to trust and in maintaining his hold on conquered territories as his reach broadened.

The casting left something to be desired. Angelina Jolie, as Alexander's mother, Olympias, was strange. Colin Farrell, as Alexander, never quite convinced me that he was Alexander the Great. He played Alexander's moments of weakness and doubt much more convincingly than his moments of triumph.

Stone did portray Alexander's relationship with Hephaestion in such a way that it came across as honorable and admirable, never sordid.

Is Global Warming to Blame?

No boom.

For the first time since I've lived here, the guys at the Smuggler Mine did not wake me up at 6 am on the Fourth of July with their extremely loud cannon blasts.

This is very sad.

Now, as I have previously explained, the guys at the Smuggler Mine are a cantakerous group and don't take kindly to being told they can't do something. When certain wet-blanket types in the City of Aspen tried to forbid the 6 am Fourth of July cannon blasts, the miners simply thumbed their noses and went ahead anyway.

So, I can't imagine that today's lack of boom was done willingly.

We do, however, have a situation here. It is dry. Really, really dry. So dry that the fireworks at Aspen Mountain have been moved to the municipal golf course. So dry that there were not one, but two wildfires within the city limits on Monday.

Therefore, while I am totally guessing here, I'm thinking that the silence this morning might have something to do with the tinderbox quality of the surroundings.

This has definitely started my day off of a sour note, or should I say, a lack of a stirring, startling, heart pounding note.

It remains to be seen if I'll be able to salvage the day . . .

The Colony by John Tayman

All authors have an agenda. Some are more successful than others at balancing out their presentation of their material but slant is inevitable and unavoidable.

Reading The Colony on the heels of Moloka'i places the differing perspectives of the two authors in stark juxtaposition. Alan Brennert tells a story that downplays the hardships faced by the exiles on Molokai. John Tayman details a history of the settlement fraught with suffering.

Neither is necessarily inaccurate.

Tayman is clearly trying to make a point. He is attacking a system, inspired by fear and ignorance, which segregated innocent victims of a disfiguring disease. In chapter after chapter, he provides graphic examples of the wrongheadedness of the policy of segregation. His is an indictment of the system which dehumanized those infected with the leprosy germ.

In order to accomplish this end, he highlights the sensational accounts of the time which inspired fear in the general population. He repeats the contemporary descriptions which often use terminology now seen as highly insulting and offensive. He describes how Jack London was used in an attempt by those trying to encourage Hawaiian tourism to publish a white-washed portrayal of Kalaupapa.

And yet, even while focusing on the horrors, Tayman manages to also tell an inspiring tale of survival, perseverance and even hope by spotlighting individuals' stories. Rather than simply presenting the data and facts regarding the settlement, Tayman wisely brings us the stories of a number of the people affected by the Hawaiian government's misguided attempt to halt the spread of the disease. Tayman introduces us to people who faced outrageous circumstances with grace, humor and faith. I came away with a feeling of deep admiration for these individuals.

Due to Tayman's agenda, The Colony has inspired some controversy. Three of the individuals portrayed in the book, two of whom had been cooperating with the author, have denounced the book in no uncertain terms. Tayman briefly mentions these issues in his Notes and Acknowledgements and a little internet research brings up newspaper articles with more specifics.

I can't imagine, though, that any writer of recent history can possibly please all those affected by the history being presented. It appeared to me that the complaints were based on an inability to separate Tayman's criticisms of the policies from his admiration for the majority of the residents of Kalaupapa.

There is additional criticism of Tayman and his publisher due to their choices for the cover photography on both the hardcover and paperback editions. The hardcover edition featured a photograph of Italian cliffs while the paperback edition, while at least using a photograph of the cliffs of Molokai, flips the photo and (at least according to this website) doesn't credit the correct photographer.

I find these issues troubling in that, in my opinion, lack of attention to these sorts of details are likely to be indicative of a further lack of attention to detail. Attention to detail is important in a well-researched historical work.

Tayman does an admirable job of accomplishing his purpose in a way that is readable and engrossing. Moloka'i presented a rose colored glasses view of the settlement and The Colony provides a view which reminds the reader that while it's a beautiful place and the residents don't want to leave, they didn't originally go there willingly either.

If I am able to visit Kaluapapa as hoped, I will be careful with references to The Colony. The bookstore there does not carry the book, bowing to the wishes of the remaining residents.

More on Kalaupapa

In preparation for our bookclub discussion of Moloka'i by Alan Brennert, I proceeded to do some superficial internet research on Hansen's disease and on Kalaupapa.

I came across a letter written by Jack London which largely corresponds with Brennert's depiction and the book, The Colony by John Tayman and two NPR interviews which present a contrasting picture of Kalaupapa.

After listening to both Terry Gross' Fresh Air interview and Renee Montagne's Morning Edition interview with John Tayman, it appears that Alan Brennert's depiction of Kalaupapa is fairly idealized or, at least, glosses over the depravity that existed in the early days of the settlement.

I'll report more once I have had a chance to read The Colony.