Angie Powers > Recent Status Updates

I noticed sensory detail when the author described his room as "the smallest . . . always checkered with scattered volumes of World Book, Childcraft, Dragonlance, and Narnia" (Coates 4). Of course, these details help me imagine his room, but more importantly, it reveals that the narrator values learning and reading.

The opening of the book included a quotation that refers to "strange adventures" and "perils" but then is followed by a character buying three things from a shop: alcohol, books, and "Sensitive Care skin cream" (Dean 3). This rather odd introduction was a flash forward, as it's labeled in present day and the next chapter is 22 years ago. It engaged me because I wanted to know why she bought these three things.

I love a book that includes solutions to the problems they uncover ❤️

Blech is my reaction to the first chapter. Which is kinda why I need to continue.

So far, this book aligns with what Reeves spoke about at NCUEA. I still cannot believe that the federal government doesn't require ed data to be reported by gender. Wild.

Yup. I am actually reading this book.

I learned an unspoken rule about the author's family: her family believes that they should always negotiate. So, when she would go to the market with her grandma, she would ALWAYS haggle for a better price. The author would usually be kind of embarrassed about this until her grandma got her a pair of K-Swiss shoes for $8. Her embarrassment turned into pride, as she learned "[a]sk for what you want" (Jones 143).

I am finding a mirror in this book that I'd really rather just ignore. The author is like me in that she doesn't like to ask for help, as she'd just rather take care of business herself. This caused problems in her marriage, as her husband wanted to help. Jones quotes Brene Brown who said, "I've learned that gasping for air while volunteering to give others CPR is not heroic [but] suffocation by resentment" (124).

The author shared an anecdote about the time she got absolutely blasted on Twitter. It was so bad that "Luvvie" (her name) was trending on Twitter for an hour. This impacted the way she viewed herself because she realized she was worrying too much about what others thought. She learned to ask herself, "What would Beyonce do?" and realized that the queen "wouldn't even act like she saw it" (Jones 130).

The essential question about the impact of adversity is very relevant to my book. In terms of how adversity impacts the way others see us, the book provides some interesting information about how trauma impacts the brain. When a person is reminded about their traumatic experience, their "amygdala reacts with alarm," triggering "stress hormones" (van der Kolk 42). This could make others think the person is nervous.

What struck me the most about the beginning of the book is how much I related to the author's experiences. We both are in "helper" fields, and even though I don't interact with traumatized veterans like Tom, I too sometimes feel like "nothing in my . . . training had prepared me to deal with the challenges that [those I support] presented" (van der Kolk 10-11). Like the author, I am a lifelong learner.

This book reminds me of Permission to Feel, which I also really like. There's lots of story and plenty of research. Loving it so far!

T