March 20, 2022Today a friend forwarded me a NYT article entitled "The Many Uses (and Abuses) of Shame" https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/18/books/shame-machine-cathy-oneil.html?referringSource=articleShare3/20,22(Jennifer Szalai). The article focuses on a new book, The Shame Machine, by Cathy P'Neil, among other subjects. I was interested in the topic because I wrote two books on shame (The Shame Experience, and Shame in Context: http://susanbethmiller.com). The NYT article got me thinking a bit about constructive or what I'll call "maturational" shame in the context of fiction I have written, particularly my recent novel, A Beautiful Land, which, you may detect, I am trying to market. I had [...]

Along with many others, I have been very concerned about efforts to restrict voting rights throughout the country. In Michigan, where I live, a number of organizations are teaming up to try to place a measure on the November ballot that will enshrine critical voting rights in the State Constitution. I am working with Voters Not Politicians, the group that made a tremendous effort to pass Proposal 2, which ended partisan gerrymandering in Michigan by creating an independent citizens redistricting commission. Also involved with the current effort is the ACLU, which worked successfully to pass Promote the Vote into law [...]

Literati bookstore in Ann Arbor hosted me and podcaster Doug Wheeler (podcast, From the Belly) in conversation about my new novel, A Beautiful Land. Doug is a wonderful interviewer and it is always fun and interesting to talk with him. Literati posted the virtual event on their YouTube channel   https://youtu.be/1I868hIcP3U

A number of book clubs in Chicago, Ann Arbor, and other areas of Michigan have chosen A Beautiful Land for discussion in the coming months. I hope members will find these conversations interesting. As an aid to thinking about the book, I drafted a number of questions that might guide discussion.   Here are some questions to choose among for a discussion of A Beautiful Land. If you have other questions to suggest, please put them in the comments.   What do we learn from the children's play that opens the book?   Are there any complexities in the character [...]

Since we are up to our elbows in snow, I thought I'd post some winter photos. Many are of two beloved snow-loving dogs I lost last winter, but there is also an ovenbird who should have migrated south and had no business being in Michigan in the winter, as well as a snowy owl--a winter visitor from the north--and a few nature photos. And a drawing to fit the black and white canine theme. snowy owl   Hannah Webster

Post #4 How does a person establish the cultural or ethnic group to which they belong? Does another person define it for me or is the judgment my own? If it is my assessment, do I look only at the most obvious, surface characteristics that define me, for example skin color or country of origin? If my group membership is decided by others, from the outside, can I as an Ashkenazi Jew write about Sephardim? Can an African-American write about a person born and raised in Nigeria?   I have on occasion written about black-skinned people--some African-American but also Jamaican [...]