One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s White House: A Trump Memoir

#movie #movieredux #bio #memoir #trump #whitehouse #MAGA #republicans #epstein #iran #war #Felon47 #news #politics

Shrug

https://haikudread.net/2026/05/05/shrug/

Growing up, I was always included, but never felt present. People smiled to greet me, but wouldn’t if they really knew the real me. They used my name, but more often an unrelated nickname.
Nobody knew I wanted to be known as Joanna. Not even me.
https://medium.com/prismnpen/trans-activism-whose-trans-activism-why-me-4ee766bec42f?sk=892f35a63a1d07776171c6af891b2f5c

#LGBTQ #Transgender #Childhood #Memoir

📗 "My Body is a Meadow: Finding Freedom in the Outdoors" by Bethany Handley

This book isn't out yet, but will be later this week! I received a digital ARC for it (thanks!).

This is a memoir-style essay collection about the intersection between disability and nature. It's a personal look into being Disabled and finding ways to have access to your surroundings despite the plethora of unnecessary barriers set up by an ableist society. It's about the artificial divide between wild and urban, human versus nature, healthy or sick, abled versus disabled. Instead of reflecting on ourselves as a possible symbiotic whole, marginalized communities like the Disabled are mistreated and neglected just like our planet is.

I liked reading about that comparison, and I liked the idea that our bodies are adaptable just like nature is resilient. I most appreciated the ideas about interdependence. There's such shame in society about being disabled and having to rely on others. But who or what is truly totally independent? Why do we need to be, when everything in life is interconnected?

I loved reading about the author's relationship with her family, her experience on the trails and the humor she brings to it all. Although certain scenes had me chuckling, it never took away from the seriousness of the ableism that is discussed.

The content obviously focuses mainly on Welsh nature, UK law, the NHS, being at least partially mobile, and using a wheelchair. You might be able to have more practical use of the book's information if you're in the same circumstances, but anyone can enjoy this book. If you love nature writing, you're in good hands. Being someone who walks with braces (and sometimes a cane) myself, I found most of it relatable and deeply comforting.

After a long rehab period for an injury, recently I was able to go to a local nature reserve for the first time again. The accessible path was abysmal (as expected), but I have no words to explain how good it felt to be outside and to feel connected with the landscape. Fortunately the author has plenty of words to explain it for me. I had to laugh when I read the part where she's able to be outdoors again and one of her loved ones has started taking a picture every time. My loved one's phone has definitely built up a collection of awkward 'look at you existing here now at this point!' photographs of me over the last two years.

Anyway, by now you'll probably know if this book will be a good read for you too. I hope you'll give it a try if it sounds at all interesting to you. I'll leave you with a quote:

"Threatening Disabled people and those requiring health and social care stigmatises illness, as if being mortal is not a necessary condition of being alive. [...] We are not solitary beings who can divorce ourselves from illness or being disabled; we are all Disabled or pre-disabled, living on a disabled planet."

#AmReading #memoir #DisabilityLit

Unwise

https://haikudread.net/2026/05/04/unwise/

The memoir you are avoiding writing is the one someone else needs to read.

We say this to authors all the time.

We are not.

The book you are most afraid to write, the one that sits in a folder you rarely open, the one you keep telling yourself is "not ready", .

You will never be the version of yourself who can write the book without flinching. Everyone flinches.

Watch the reel. Save it for the day you decide to start.
.
.
.
#MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #MemoirWriting #Memoir #AlpacaAuthors

It's not always a choice between right and wrong. Sometimes, it's a choice between right and right. That is, right and easy ... or right and hard.

Here's the final part in a six part series that looked at how our preparation plays out when the time comes to lead. All the doubts, misplaced confidence, anxiety, and deep realizations come together in one moment and shape the decisions we make.

This story is describes just one small moment. But our lives are a series of small moments, aren't they?

https://www.thestick.blog/the-pipeline-launch/

#memoir #navy