This is the Meta post I can make to fill in for yet another kind of topicless day, right? Well I had in mind to work on one of a couple of book reviews, but I don’t feel I’m far enough into those novels to give a good description of what they’re about.
There is one really long book I’ve been working on for some time called the slave trade: the story of the Atlantic slave trade, 1440-1870, by Hugh Thomas. It’s an incredible 43 hours of audio, and so I can’t imagine how long that would be in print. It’s interesting, but pretty sad to ponder all of that stuff. I’m still only in the late 1500’s, as the Portuguese and the folks they’d set up in the Americas to do the colonizing really began to transition from using Natives to Africans. I’ll probably be working on that one till nearly the end of the year.
And because I can never quite quench my fascination with Space travel, I’m also pounding away at yet another book about humanity’s trips to the Moon. This one is called Moon shot: the inside story of America’s race to the moon, by Alan Shepard and K. Donald Slayton. One thing I do like about this one, even more than the previous two I’ve read within the last year, is its decreased emphasis on the military side of why we ended up building ships powerful enough to boost people beyond earth’s atmosphere. I’ve always been more interested in the stories, what it was actually like to experience this very rarely engaged in form of travel.
And because I’m already racing the clock to get this in under the 12:00 deadline, I’ll just pretty much let it stand with those short reviews. I think though that one of the reasons why continuing to try this #31WriteNow challenge is important for me is to let me know that everything doesn’t have to be “the bomb!” When I get too hung up on making sure that I’m always writing to a high level, I start to clam up and not really put out anything at all. I think that if I keep greasing the wheels in my brain though, more good stuff will pour forth eventually.
I do have my trip to DC all booked, too. I’m leaving on August 21st and returning on the 23rd, primarily because I remembered at the last minute that I have to attend a membership meeting for the Norrie Disease Association on that Saturday. The Megabus should depart Durham at 6 PM and arrive in DC shortly before 11. I’ll stay at the Courtyard Hotel, located at 1325 2nd St NE. The NPR tour is from 11-12 on Thursday, and I’m already working on things to do after that. The megabus will then leave on Friday at 4:15, arriving in Durham at or after 9:30. I’m slightly curious why that trip takes longer than the previous one, but I suppose I’ll find out.
I can’t wait! Enough chatter for today, I guess. More tomorrow.
Monthly Archives: August 2013
The Course, and Summer Travel After All?
Man, what! A! day! A very good, and full one, but one on which I find myself quite exhausted.
First, I’m wondering if I should ask to be downgraded to a four-day workweek for the duration of this HTML class I’m taking. I have no idea how I’ll make it through Friday otherwise, as by the time class ends it’s very definitely my bedtime. I’ve already taken tomorrow, because I knew I’d need the adjustment time.
Speaking of the class, I think it’s going to be great. There are a mix of creative, intelligent, humorous people therein. This is the first such course that I’ve taken strictly online, and so for that it’ll be a new experience anyway.
Today, we mostly covered what would be required to complete the course. The most interesting aspect is that we must create a website based on a topic of our choosing. We all know how hard I struggle with making decisions on such things, well truthfully how hard I struggle with making decisions period. Ha, ha. So do you have ideas about what I should try to base my site on? Music? Sports? Disability issues? I don’t know, but I guess I’ll come up with something.
I think I get a pass on a solidly written post tonight, huh? I’m at least putting out something!
The final good news of the day is, it seems anyway, that I’m going to get to tour the NPR headquarters after all. We’re just working out the time that I’d go, and they’ve said they’ll be willing to accommodate me through the building with a guide.
I hope to visit Washington on the 22nd, well in all likelihood arriving on the 21st and crashing so I’ll awake in the morning refreshed and ready to go. That’s assuming any sleep can be had, as I’ll doubtless be as excited as a kid on Christmas.
I’ve been an NPR junkie since late in 2001, and seriously contemplated some way of working as part of that network for the last few years or so.
So tomorrow I’ll pour over travel websites to see if I can find a hotel close to Union Station, both because that’s where Megabus will arrive and because it’d also put me close enough to NPR to easily take a taxi if that’s what I end up doing. Wish me well. I think that would indeed be my summer’s last hurrah.
Ah, this season is winding up far too quickly, but it’s been a pretty good one overall. So tell me to stop complaining and look at all of the things that have gone right!
Back with something more coherent tomorrow, once my brain is functioning properly. I feel quite pleased, though.
From Trivial to Powerful, The Effects of Social Media
So this’ll probably be a short entry, assuming I manage to crank one out at all. And with class starting tomorrow, that day’s post will be a short one as well.
I wanted to quickly talk about a couple of ways that social media, (e.g.) Facebook and Twitter, have worked in my favor or allowed me to work in someone else’s.
Many point to these modes of communication and suggest that they are major time wasters on which little is actually accomplished. To a large extent, I wouldn’t disagree with this. However, some pretty cool things can happen as well.
The first of these is trivial, I’ll admit, but to a friend of mine and I it will make for a more enjoyable NFL football season if it actually happens and is accessible. I had called NFL Audio Pass Customer Service on Friday when I purchased this product, because I wanted to see if there was a way I could listen to games on my iPhone. I was assured by a rep that if I downloaded the NFL 13 app, I would have the sort of access I sought.
When Sunday’s preseason game kicked off, I launched the app to see if I could find that audio. Now I’m a bit concerned about usability with VoiceOver, because the screen seems to refresh every five seconds or so, taking me back to the beginning. Other apps refresh also, but they manage to leave me in the same place even as they do so.
Anyway, I saw only a way to upgrade to a premium subscription that would allow for viewing of four games per week along with other NFL network content. In response, I tweeted “Ugh very disappointed in the NFL Mobile app. I don’t even see a place to listen to audio only to subscribe to video feed. #GetItTogether!”
A few minutes later, an account for NFL Mobile’s Customer Service, that had only been created like a week prior, responded, talking a couple of us through what we should expect. At least they were aware enough to know that such issues might crop up, I guess.
In a nutshell, they said audio should be available by the time the regular season begins in a few weeks. It’s not a real big deal if it isn’t, as I can just listen to the games via the computer, but the convenience factor is that to which I am most looking forward.
The other way that social media has had a major effect on me is by what it allows me to do for another. I have for months, years really, tried to help quite often new parents of persons with Norrie Disease, the disorder that has caused my blindness and hearing loss. Google is a wonderful thing, and so people sometimes show up with questions and concerns. So I corresponded with someone via Facebook, not actually realizing that I was acting in my official capacity as a member of the board of directors in the Norrie Disease Association. I certainly do understand the overwhelmedness that can result when you find out that your child has a condition that might result in a varying set of disabilities from mild to moderate hearing loss to possible intellectual deficits. My take home message is always this: first, many of us go on to live normal, productive lives and do great things for ourselves, our families and friends. But no matter the situation, everyone’s quality of life is improved when he or she experiences a loving, vibrant environment that encourages the highest degree of functioning possible.
I know for a fact that my folks sometimes feel frustrated and/or sad watching me deal with hearing loss. But they try their best to understand, and never make me feel like I’m less of a person for it. For this, I feel extremely blessed to live in the era I do, as I’ve said earlier in reference to my attempts to gain more meaningful employment. Probably less than 50 years ago, many of us would have just been shoved away in an institution and darn near forgotten about by all. And I should say that I don’t think this was often the family’s choice, but they were in many cases railroaded to make such decisions by supposedly well-meaning but quite misinformed medical professionals.
So I feel good if or when I am able to help others to deal with all these challenges, and am always here to do so in whatever capacity I can. As I noted in the letter I wrote for potential board re-nomination coming up here at the end of this month, I stand in the legacy of the NDA’s founder, the late Mike Kosior, who left us far too soon. I hope he is happy with what I’m trying to do.
What’s Going On?
This is a post about movies, and particularly how totally blind people tend to perceive them. It is, or at least has been, a work in process. However, we are on the verge of entering a promising new era where everyone, including those whose eyes don’t work, can get into and enjoy this very visual form of storytelling.
I grew up in a family of five sisters, so needless to say, there was usually some kind of programming being played on the screen in our giant combination living room and kitchen. If their choice of movies didn’t send me back to my room with a book, Dirty Dancing anyone?, I would usually be sprawled on the thick carpeting covering that kitchen floor, drifting between sleep and wakefulness.
“Come and watch this with me,” my youngest sister especially asked me.
Because she knew my interest would often flag quickly due to not being able to know all of what was happening on screen, she often kept up a running commentary as the action unfolded. As good at it as she was though, I still had so much difficulty picking up on plot lines that I’d just give up and lapse into silence, rather than repeatedly asking questions.
My totally blind cousin, having nearly always desired to be an actor, was both better at holding together a plot line and less fearless about asking all sorts of questions. In many respects, he taught me a little more how to do this via the skits we used to enact, usually involving World War 2 era life, which we for whatever reason called “playing something”. These were pretty amusing, as we somehow managed to juggle several different characters at once without stopping to clarify who would play whom. These could go on for hours, often having to be interrupted by parents or other relatives to inform us that dinner had been served or we needed to go somewhere.
My cousin and I of course got older, and we listened excitedly as the first, some say video, others especially in the United Kingdom say audio described content began to make its appearance. One of the first places in which we saw this technology was the Metrolina Association for the Blind in Charlotte, North Carolina. In the summer of 1992, while attending a day camp there, we were entered into a drawing to win the prize of a specially made TV with the ability to intercept secondary audio programming, on channels where it was provided, that would allow us to hear the displayed video with a described track overlaying it. And, my cousin and I won.
That was a pretty nice television too, probably the best our cash-strapped family had had up to that point. Many of the available feeds at this time were on public TV, and so we spent hours listening to educational material about animals, historical civilizations, and the like. It was fascinating, and sometimes we’d have to be torn away from the set well after midnight.
Next came actual videos, some well-known, with these described tracks. MAB allowed patrons to check these out and watch them, so long as they were returned, undamaged, in a reasonable amount of time. Finally, I could get into something like the Indiana Jones movies, and Amistad, that great flick about a slave revolt of sorts that was full of subtitles for at least the first fifteen minutes or so. We couldn’t get enough of that.
Fast forward to now, nearly 20 years later. Many more hit shows, movies, and other types of visual titles are now accessible in described format than ever before. While many of these can be obtained through various online portals if a blind person is aware of them, individuals like Robert Kingett, a well-known blind writer/journalist, wish to bring this content to mainstream platforms such as Netflix. He, along with others, has launched the Accessible NetFlix project in an attempt to address these issues, noting, I’d say fairly, that paid customers deserve the ability to be able to watch movies of all kinds, and in whichever format they need to gain information and be entertained by them.
I hadn’t exactly been sure about the utility of this, as it sounds like it could be expensive, but they also point out that much of this content is already there and has simply to be made available. I had been a Net Flix subscriber, but I gave up on it because I no longer felt that they had a wide enough variety of movies to suit my desires. I admit though that perhaps if they improve site access so I could more easily browse the titles, and made at least some described material available, I would consider re-upping my membership.
Just Another Insane Workday
Because what weekend doesn’t end crazily? I’m certainly hoping things get to be a bit more to my liking as this week goes on.
My cousin and I sit in the four-bedroom house, chatting. One of our old, favorite country albums plays in the background.
“Wanna go swimming?” he asks suddenly.
“Yeah,” I reply.
The delicious scent of fried chicken and baked macaroni and cheese follows us as we make our way onto the back deck and maneuver around a collections of chairs irregularly placed. I slip out of my shirt and shoes, walk down the stairs, dive in, and!… lurch out of bed toward the restroom, as I suddenly realize the problem.
I was mostly relieved that my clock only read 2:15, instead of the 4:15 that would mean I must go ahead and shower. But I made the classic mistake of browsing the notifications that had poured into my phone while it rested in my pocket, Do Not Disturb setting activated so that only the vibrating alarm would rouse me.
I don’t know if any sleep was had after that, but in any event it was far too soon by the time I did in fact have to make my way toward that warm-to-hot water. I turned on the brain cells as best I could, hoping mostly to come up with some kind of topic in order to keep my writing challenge goal alive of pumping out an entry every day of this month.
You know, I’ve never really done that. Oh sure, I posted in my Live Journal continuously for a little over 2 years, but not all of those were actually written entries. Many were those silly Internet memes, polls, or low-quality telephone voice posts. So it remains to be seen if I can measure up to this high bar. I do enjoy your feedback, as that may well be the thing to keep me going.
Anyway, back to my day. I chose to dress nicely, not because I had to but because it sometimes boosts my confidence and mood as the week begins. On stepping outside, I was glad to have made such a choice. It seems fall is coming in with a vengeance, or perhaps my already low cold tolerance levels have fallen further. They said it was approximately 63 degrees, but I stood quaking in my Sunday shoes as cars streamed by and I awaited a slightly late Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA) Route 11 bus.
On boarding, I flashed my Disability Discount ID card, deposited my pass into the slot and waited for it to magically pop back up, and took my sideways-facing seat. I was nervous, because that vehicle had a disturbing rattle as we headed down the road. It sounded this way when I took it on Thursday as well. I suppose there isn’t anything really wrong with it, but still.
At the Durham Station transit center stop, I made small talk with the woman I’ve seen fairly regularly for almost 3 months. She has a complicated story, the likes of which I’ve not entirely figured out. But it seems she’s from Las Vegas, has two children, and is either in her 20’s or 40’s. I get somewhat different answers on different days! She’s really kind however, and always has an encouraging word even though she doesn’t seem to feel all that happy with circumstances much of the time.
The Triangle Transit Route 700 that takes me on my second leg to work was also significantly late, arriving at nearly 6:15 instead of 6:00. Maybe today was just a particularly bad traffic day or something. This meant I got to work at 6:45 AM, and had only 15 minutes to clock in, suck down my required coke, and tune in to some NPR.
By clicking on the work tab, you can get a sense of what I do, or at least used to do, at this location. Today though is spent as much of the rest of these last two months have been, just kind of passing time. They did say some sort of project should be ready for us by tomorrow or Wednesday, thank goodness.
At about 2:30 my supervisor brought over a collection of belt buckles that we were to sort into piles of 100. This held us for most of the rest of the day, until we finally ran out of boxes into which we could place the piles.
You know, I’m trying to have a better attitude about all of this. An intelligent woman on Twitter pointed out that this was essential in order to eventually rise above my current situation. But I’ve spent almost exactly 10 years, as one could argue that I began my job search on July 31 of 2003, trying to find something that would really be desirable.
I know the numbers: 70% of persons with disabilities unemployed, and those of us who are fortunate to be working are mostly in sheltered workshops such as the one in which I currently work. I am, more than anything, glad to be alive in an era when I can realistically hope to change that not only for myself, but also to give keys, information and insight to others so they can change it as well.
In Celebration of NFL, My Love for Sports
I used to be a bigger sports junkie than I am nowadays. But the funny thing is, it didn’t start out that way.
I can remember, way back in the ancient early 90’s, before iPhones, satellite radio, and really even the Internet as we know it, my cousin first picked up this habit of listening to games.
Oh I’d tried to on occasion with my biological male parent, but he never did much to explain what was going on to me. He’d just sit there tossing back first one then another beer, getting angry if I chose to intervene with silly questions about what was happening on the TV screen.
Later though, first my uncles and then my real dad devised imaginative ways for me to really envision what was going on. It wasn’t entirely uncommon for us to move the furniture out of the way, use socks and other soft things as props, and actually act out one of the most recent plays in a game we happened to be watching. My mom would sometimes get a bit nervous about this, but I think at heart she appreciated having someone around who would really take the time to nurture interest and bonding.
Anyway, I’m not entirely sure what got my cousin into sports. I would guess though that he had a desire to know something about them so that he could more effectively communicate with his friends. We all know how important that is to any kid in his or her early teens, don’t we?
So he’d turn on a college football game, thoroughly annoying me and meaning that I would have no one to talk to. I’d sulk and often just spend pretty much my entire Saturday afternoon sleeping.
It got worse as he suddenly started watching baseball too. Looking back at my interactions with him over sports at that time, I’m surprised he didn’t just decide he’d had enough of me.
“Why don’t you turn that off!” I’d ask, even going so far a couple of times as to seize the radio dial.
But one weekend, I opted to chill. I believe it was during a game between Boston College and the University of Notre Dame, one of the greatest rivalries in college football. I decided that just this once, I’d settle in and try to see what the fuss was all about. And, I was hooked.
This happened as 1993 rolled over into 1994. In the middle of that next school year, I left the city of Charlotte behind for a small town called Southern Pines, North Carolina. One of the most difficult things for me about this move was that I no longer had easy access to a local station carrying the Charlotte Hornets (and thank you New Orleans for at least giving us our name back!)
Did this stop me from listening? Of course not. I pretty much got whiplash from continuing to fling the Walkman about as the game played out, but I’d somehow manage to piece together enough of the action through the static to know whether or not we had won. And if we hadn’t, well don’t talk to me!
By the time I was able to move back into an area where I could again get the games, some of my passion had already began to abate. Oh I enjoyed, and still enjoy, the Hornets, Carolina Panthers (NFL) and all of the major college sports teams except for the Duke Blue Devils (BAH!), but I no longer cared to invest myself emotionally in quite the same way as I’d done previously. Moreso in the pros than in college, and seemingly to a higher degree these days than even in the 90’s, most players don’t much care about anything but the big bucks anyway.
I do still like the civic pride that a team’s success can bring, causing even many who don’t care a lick for sports to get excited when their city’s franchise makes a serious runat a title.
The best experience we in the Carolinas have had with this, on a professional level of course as many college teams have won, was in the 2003-04 season for the Panthers. Man, that year they just refused to be denied. In the first game, they were down 17-0 at half before changing quarterbacks and rallying for a 24-23 win on a last-second touchdown. In the second game, they had all but lost as all the Tampa Bay kicker needed to do was boot the extra point through as time expired to give them a 1-point win. And yet somehow the Cats managed to block it, sending the game into overtime and allowing us to take it back on a field goal. That magic carried us all the way to the brink of a Super Bowl victory against the then mighty New England Patriots.
So we stand on the edge of another NFL season. I’m excited, because I will enjoy listening to all of the games this year with my NFL Audio Pass. I’m kind of sad though, as it signifies that the cold will soon return.
The question all of us Panthers fans are asking as we get ready for action is: can we avoid a 1-7 start? I guess we shall see. Our first preseason game is this Friday at 8, and the schedule is tough. We have to play the entire AFC East and NFC West, as well as the NFC East’s New York Giants and the NFC North’s Minnesota Vikings. Hopefully our much vaunted quarterback Cam Newton can finally have his breakout year. Let’s see how long they can hold my interest.
Stepping Out
Remember how, some time ago, I indicated that I wanted to be more a part of the Durham community? I felt I should start finding places more local, rather than just defaulting to the easy choice of Chapel Hill.
Well, I’ve finally taken a step in that direction today. As I write this, I’m sitting in the business center at Duke Manor Apartments, the giant Durham neighborhood located near its namesake (booo!) university.
A few moments ago, it was pretty quiet in here. Located just off a rather large and echoy gym, I could actually hear people working out on some of the machinery therein. I suppose that’s the next thing I need to go and discover. I wonder if they have somewhere to swim?
Then, a bevvy of children swooped into this room and began crying, fighting, and causing other amusing havoc. I feel somewhat more relieved about this situation now, as I can hear their parents yelling at them. The way they’re bouncing around in here, perhaps it’s not surprising that some of this furniture is a bit the worse for wear. The chair in which I’m currently sitting, for example, is permanently stuck in a reclined position.
And now one of those kids, with breath that smells of cookies, just tapped me on my chest. I guess s/he was attempting to ask me something, but what I don’t know.
Ah, well I’m enjoying this diversion. It’s definitely a different kind of weekend, although I’d hoped some of the clientele would be a little more college student like. Maybe that’ll happen as the school year approaches. I’m just happy to finally know where this place is, as it’ll be a good social spot during the cold winter months, when sitting outside is a bad option indeed.
This is all part of my continued effort to make this town home for me, during the length of time I actually remain here. We shall see what other kinds of craziness I can get into, as things progress.
(EDIT:) I just realized what that kid wanted. I’m wearing my Braille shirt that states the title of my old blog, Hearing Change, Seeing Promise. S/he probably wanted to feel that.
Sample of Chaotic Business Center (Audio)
Feed Me!
It may be the one thing, well besides love, that we all need. We have fairly regular periods during which we get it, and not having it can cause serious issues. I’m talking about food!
It’s funny how our eating habits change as we age. I remember when I was younger, I was a voracious eater. Many in my family would call me “the human trash can”. I probably deprived my sisters of some needed nutrients, simply because of my willingness to consume the stuff they didn’t like. This willingness also meant that I got to enjoy junk food in what were almost certainly to large quantities before dinner.
During those days of fairly little money, we rarely ate out. Most big dinners were convened at my grandma’s house, where pretty much everything else took place as well. There, we’d have fried chicken, rice or some equivalent starch, and maybe green beans. Then, we’d finish it with a delicious home-baked cake.
Whenever we did eat out though, we knew it was a special occasion. Yes, as I noted in an earlier entry, most Easter’s were spent at my grandma’s as well. But every now and then, we’d go to a little place in Charlotte called Po Folks. It was kind of like Shonies (I have no idea if I’m spelling that correctly), but I guess a little cheaper. Man, I used to love those popcorn shrimp, hushpuppies, and fries. I think they turned me into a character like Bubba in Forrest Gump.
One of the coolest things about this place was its wishing well. You could put a coin in and listen as it twirled its way down, down, down. We’d all stand in line for a good five minutes, continuously dropping stuff in. I believe they used this well to raise money for local charities, a pretty good idea. At least we couldn’t dig in and take coins out, like some of us bad children did at the mall fountains you used to see back then. I don’t know of many places that still have those.
Anyhow, my eating at this location established an enjoyment of the local stuff. Actually, I’m not entirely sure that was a local restaurant, but whatever. I still like when I travel to seek out the smaller places and go in for a meal. I think this is more important now than ever, as our cities turn into one big chain.
Besides my enjoyment of shrimp, anyone who knows me knows that my other intense favorite is spaghetti. I really can’t say how or when this obsession began, except that it is probable that I’m actually an Italian baby, switched at birth. Wait, do Italians even eat as much spaghetti as we do here in the States? I know a lot of the attributed food trends we give to other countries are not nearly as observed therein.
Speaking of, yes of course I love pizza too. However, my bachelor lifestyle means I eat way to much of it and would likely be ok if I didn’t eat another slice for a couple of months. I usually at least try and get a supreme or something containing vegetables too, so I can pretend to be remotely healthy. I know that what I really need is to learn to cook.
So what are some of your favorite foods? Do you eat out often? I keep trying to cut back on that actually, as it’s too expensive, but I just enjoy the possibility, rarely fulfilled, of social interaction that exists inside of a restaurant.
With the start of preseason football on Sunday, I think tomorrow’s topic will be sports. Touchdown! I intend to write a mix of topical and daily posts, that is whenever anything of significant interest happs on a given day.
Book Review: Cruising Attitude, by Heather Poole
Right on the heels of my Audio Mo challenge success, well so-so that is, I’ve learned through a blogger I met on Twitter via AudioMo of another challenge that might well be more up my alley. This one, hash tagged #31WriteNow, dares its participants to write a blog post every day for the month of August. I have absolutely no idea if I can live up to that kind of commitment these days, and especially given that I’m starting class and have some kind of job, no matter how tenuous the latter may be at the moment. But, I can always use the stimulation of the attempt.
I’ve cashed it in on this week regarding the day job, opting to take tomorrow off and work on some more productive things. We did nearly nothing all of this week, but have some hope that things will begin to revive next Monday. We’re just having to pound through the summer doldrums.
My section partner didn’t show up today either, meaning I had no one to talk to. So I decided to start Cruising Attitude: Tales of Crashpads, Crew Drama, and Crazy Passengers at 35,000 Feet, by Heather Poole.
A well-known flight attendant via Twitter and other social media forums, I’ve followed Poole for almost 4 years now. But upon already reading about a quarter of this book in one sitting, I can say that I hadn’t known as much as I thought about what her job really entailed.
Her tales begin with a couple of fairly recent stories about passengers experiencing medical issues onboard and the measures taken to assist them. Some were humorous, and others were sad. With these, Poole immediately establishes in the reader some of the wild emotional swings experienced by one who engages in this line of work.
In the following chapters, she takes us through her journey into being a flight attendant, noting that this was initially meant to be a short job while she awaited her bigger career as, well something. Just as so many of us young folk struggle with, Poole was having a hard time figuring out just what she’d wanna do.
After an adventure-filled stint with a small, very low budget carrier, she managed to make her jump to the big dogs of the sky. This involved a move to New York City that required quick adjustment to a life that she’d not anticipated and while building a friendship with a southerner who was also adjusting to the flight attendant role.
I obviously have a ways to go. But I’m sure that if her descriptions of intense training at a flight attendant academy, preparation for and survival of life in a chaotic Queens-area crashpad, and encounters with intimidating co-workers as she got started are any indication, her remaining stories will be a lot of fun.
I particularly enjoy Poole’s writing style. It gives the impression that one is sitting across the table and asking questions about how she got to this point. It’s all very conversational. As one who can’t get enough of travel stories, see my enjoyment of the Betty In the Sky with A Suitcase podcast, I unquestionably love this book. This book also brings home what I often hear attendants say: their job is about more than just serving drinks and pretzles. It’s about keeping us safe when we choose to be suspended far above the ground in a metal tube, and any attendant worth his or her salt really takes that seriously. If you check it out, you’ll see what I mean.