Booked by INA

Jonathan Livingston Seagull Rediscovered   One of the things I love the most about books - well actually GOOD books is that every time you read a book over and over you always discover something new about the book or about yourself. There are books that you can read at different stages of your life and understand something different about yourself or about the person you were in the past, about the book or the world. An example of this was my experience with reading  Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. My 6th grade computer teacher Ms. Vazquez gave me this book at the end of that school year because I was a good student in her class and because I loved to read. I struggled so much as a 6th grader in being interested in a book about a bird who would stubbornly rather fly then eat. I didn't think I could relate to Jonathan or what he was trying to do.  I kept that book for years because I was grateful that she bought it for me. Growing up I couldn't af...

Elevating Native American Voices "I know I can survive anything in life because my family overcame so much during assimilation, and my people are still alive and well and my tribe, although facing challenges, continues to flourish, just as it has for thousands of years. My tribe has survived and so will I" (Jen VanStrander/Western Band of Cherokee) Growing up I wasn't taught too much about Native American history in school.We talked about the pilgrims, tribes, teepees and it appeared to me that Native Americans were a thing of the past. Raped, killed and made extinct by white colonizers. It wasn't until college that I first met a Native American person and learned about how Native Americans live in reservations. At the time not understanding the challenges they faced there. I remember reading "The Iroquois Book of Life: White Roots of Peace" which focuses on how warring tribes of the northeast formed the Iroquois Confederacy and I remember being impre...