Madhuri Pavamani's Blog, page 51

Cover Art Reveal for Book One: The Girl

Yea! It’s here, the day I’ve been waiting for without really knowing I was waiting for it. And in all honesty, I haven’t even been waiting that long it’s just that (in the words of Jay-Z, who even though I don’t love like I used to, I continue to quote because I know too damn many of his lyrics) “I have no patience, and I hate waiting”.

My cover art for Book One: The Girl is complete and it is stunning! Flawless! Perfection! Which are also words I could use to describe my friend, Michele Mason Holmberg, who designed it for me.

I have to say, we collaborated on this project perfectly. I told her some of my ideas while she was reading my manuscript, she threw in some of her own ideas (which were so much better than mine) based on her own reading and then conceptualized this piece of beauty.

I love it and I love her. And without further ado, I give you the cover for Book One: The Girl

Hungry Kids

I’m probably the only person in my age group that will admit this, but I watch the Nightly News with Brian Williams almost every evening. Statistically, this television preference lands me in great company with folks in senior citizens homes. Logistically, I fell into this habit because of the time I get home from work to relieve my babysitter.

Either way you look at it, the fact remains I unabashedly love Brian Williams.

But this is not a post about his wry wit, his perfectly coiffed hair, his amazing ability to slow-jam the news or his cameos on 30 Rock.

This is about a segment he aired the other night that I can’t stop thinking about almost a week later. As of November 1st, Congress cut the food stamp program by $5 billion, resulting in cuts to a family of four of $36 per month. This might not seem like a lot of money but when you break it down and look at the choices people are forced to make when their assistance is diminished, it is tremendous. Are you still able to purchase that pack of chicken that would feed the family? Can you buy fruits and vegetables anymore? And how do you decide what gets cut from the family food budget?

I think the worst aspect of all of this is the toll on the children. Listening to parents talk about their kids and having to tell them they can’t purchase certain items at the store because they don’t have enough money or having to decide which meal should be smaller in order to make the provisions last longer is brutal. I can’t imagine having to make such choices. And I can’t believe we have become a nation willing to sacrifice the well-being of our children for some political gain.

Because that’s what all of this comes down to, a game of politics the Republicans are playing with the Democrats, ignoring the fact that many of their own supporters are being hurt by their actions. Among the 254 counties where food stamp recipients doubled between 2007 and 2011, Republican Mitt Romney won 213 of them in last year’s presidential election, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data compiled by Bloomberg. (John McCormick & Greg Giroux, “Food Stamp Cut Backed by Republicans with Voters on the Roll”, Bloomberg.com, 13 Aug 2013.) The program has become a target for Republicans over the years as they continue fighting with President Obama over the federal deficit. (Id.) However, as noted by Graham Wilson, the political science department chairman at Boston University, “ [even] if there was no deficit, they would still want to cut this kind of program…[t]hey have a fervent ideological belief that government should be cut back.” (Id.)

These are the same people that shut down the government, continued collecting their salaries and cared little for their constituents losing out on weeks of pay, many who said it would take them months to recover. So why would it be at all surprising that they are now taking out their political animosity on children? It’s interesting how the party that touts “family values” seems to see little value in the less fortunate families of this nation. Ugh. Makes my stomach turn.

When we become a society that sees nothing wrong with children going to sleep hungry, then we have some serious soul-searching to conduct, some core values to reassess.

My Text Friend

I miss my friend, Mikki, so today I decided to flirt with her via Instagram

This is the kind of interaction that would drive Henry crazy. He just doesn’t understand my obsession with texting and instagramming and facebooking and tweeting and blogging. He thinks I’m crazy and have lost all capabilities of communicating like a sophisticated human being.

He’s so wrong.

I can still chit chat with folks face-to-face and on the phone but given my druthers, I am totally texting you. Also, the fact remains that if I actually picked up the phone and called one of my girlfriends instead of texting, I know they would be sitting there, wondering the entire time, “why didn’t this chick just text me?” Because if they called me, I would be thinking the same.

This is why they are my friends and we love each other. Madly.

Mikki and I have had wonderful text moments, especially the night the two of us stayed up together and watched Obama win his second presidency. She in Brooklyn and I in the Dirty Jers, both in bed, anxiously watching the polls and texting each other back-and-forth all night.

I love that memory. I also love that we laugh about the fact that we sat there and texted all night instead of picking up the phone and chatting.

Simply stated, it wouldn’t have been the same any other way.

But don’t tell that to Henry.

“All over your body, who’s body? Your body, I can rock a party like nobody” – MC Lyte