The Collapse of the Champlain Towers South Was Preventable

When something bad happens, we tend to say “if only…” or “had I known…”. While not everything in life is preventable, that does not mean that we are absolved of taking preventable actions when we are able to do so.

Nearly two weeks ago, the Champlain Towers South partially collapsed. 24 people are dead and 121 have not be found. According to building residents, there were signs of structural damage. But instead of doing what they needed to do to fix the problems, the condo board ignored them. Which, as we all know now, led to the building’s current state.

What makes me angry is that this tragedy was preventable. Those who died and/or are still missing might still be alive today, celebrating the 4th of July. But they are not. I hope those who are responsible for this get what is coming to them.

May the memories of those killed be a blessing. Z”l.

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My Name Is Selma: The Remarkable Memoir of a Jewish Resistance Fighter and Ravensbrück Survivor Book Review

The ability to survive a war is due to a combination of both luck and timing.

In 2020, Jewish Holocaust survivor and resistance fighter Selma van de Perre published her memoir. It is entitled My Name Is Selma: The Remarkable Memoir of a Jewish Resistance Fighter and Ravensbrück Survivor. The third of four children, van de Perre’s live was relatively normal until World War II started. In her late teens at the time, fate determined that it was not her time to be rounded up by the Nazis. After her father was summoned to a work camp and her mother and little sister were in hiding before found and sent to Auschwitz, Selma died her hair blonde, lived under an assumed name, and joined the resistance. It seemed that luck was on her side. That is, until 1944 when she was captured and sent to Ravensbrück concentration camp. Her Jewish identity remained a secret until after the war, when she finally able to reveal her true self safely.

I wanted to like this book. If I am to be completely honest, it was an infodump. In writing terms, an infodump is where the writer(s) provide the reader with a lot of information without emotion or insight into what the characters are thinking or feeling. Now granted, this is a memoir and not a fiction book. What I was missing was the quickening of my pulse and the uncertainty of the dangerous situations she put herself into.

Do I recommend it? Not really.

Happy Independence Day!

I Appreciate Sha’Carri Richardson’s Maturity

The mark of an adult, in my opinion, is the ability to admit when one has made a mistake and accept the consequences.

On Friday, Olympic hopeful Sha’Carri Richardson spoke to The Today Show, She apologized for drug use that led to her one month suspension from competing in the trials for this month’s Olympics.

I admire Ms. Richardson for accepting her punishment with grace and maturity. While I understand that she was grieving for her mother, what she did was wrong. Instead of taking a tantrum (unlike a certain former President) in public, she put on her big girl pants, and let the chips fall where they may.

It is a lesson we can all learn, regardless of how old or young we are.