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Sunday Matters

It’s been a good week. A busy, whirlwind of a week but here I am and only a head cold to show for it! I felt a cold coming on earlier in the week and did everything I could to fight it but alas, I lost the battle.

Even with the cold, I still managed to make it to book club. We discussed Ghettoside and it was a very good discussion. Lots to talk about. Besides being blown away by the sheer numbers of deaths in that part of South Central, we were fascinated by the detectives and their methods for investigating the cases.

Right Now:

I’m trying to rally the troops so that we can go to church but they are all dragging and giving me grief. I mean, I am the sick one! Let’s go, already. Geesh. Note: This was written earlier but I didn’t finish in time to post this morning but I was successful in getting them all out the door.

Right now, I am cooking up a ton of food to take over to my MIL’s house. Cheesy brats, bacon wrapped smokies, peach cobbler and 7 layer salad. Yum!

This Week:

This is a week of transitions. No more theater and although my kids tried to get me to sign them up for the next show, I held firm so they are officially taking a break from community theater.

There is still lots to look forward to: the Fullerton theater competition, Little Shop of Horrors, choir concerts and track meets every Saturday! That’s plenty to do. For them though, it’s a bit of transition because they are used to juggling all those extra rehearsals but I am looking forward to not having to figure out all of the conflicts.

Reading:

Oh goodness. I just finished Lost & Found by Brooke Davis. What a gem. I have to write the review up but man, it was good. I received a review copy for it so I assumed it was new but I guess it’s a reprint. Anyway, I am glad I caught it this time around because I loved it so much.

I am currently reading Be Frank With Me by Julia Claiborne Johnson. Another gem!

Watching:

I introduced The Girl to The Long, Long Trailer with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz . She enjoyed it.

Mad Men, Season 7 – Part Two is now available on Netflix! I can finally finish the series!

And you know what’s happening next week, right? The Walking Dead returns!

Making:

As I mentioned above, I have all sort of things cooking, a peach cobbler, cheesy brats, bacon wrapped smokies a 7 layer salad and a pear and walnut salad and that is just what I am bringing to this party. There will be tons of food but my kids like me to make certain things and I like to bring gluten-free options, too.

What are you snacking on today? Will you be watching the game? For me, it’s more about just being together.

Grateful for:

I am grateful for the wonderful church service I attended today. It was so awesome. We had a guest speaker, Tim Harlow and he rocked it.

How about you? How’s your weekend going?

Ghettoside
By Jill Leovy
Spiegel & Grau, Hardcover, 9780385529983, January 2015, 384pp.

The Short of It:

An interesting look at one particular murder case in Los Angeles and how black on black crimes have been challenging detectives for years.

The Rest of It:

Ghettoside is a police procedural which covers (mostly) the murder investigation of a Los Angeles detective’s black son, who was killed by another black man while walking down the street. Leovy delves into the history of black on black crime in Los Angeles and why the cycle of black violence continues.

Focusing on the investigation, we meet detectives who have chosen to work in South Central because they firmly believe that that is where the most improvement can be made. That, in itself, was refreshing.

This book has all sorts of fascinating statistics. Those of you who eat that stuff up will find this book a quick and interesting read. But it’s a tragic read as well. So many young lives lost and we are not talking about gang members. We are talking about young kids, 13 and 14 year-olds riding their bikes down the street or kids who happened to be wearing he wrong color that day. All of them black on black crimes which to this day puzzle law enforcement.

What can be done? One detective in particular goes out of his way to take that extra step with the hope of breaking the cycle and as a reader, you suddenly realize how overwhelmingly hopeless the situation must be. At the same time though, one life saved is still something, right? You can’t really put a price on that.

It’s a tough topic but an important one and even with all the stats I breezed through it. My book club discusses it later this week so we’ll see what they have to say about it.

Source: Borrowed
Disclosure: This post contains Indiebound affiliate links.

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