by Quentin Lewis

Weeknotes: 08/04/24-08/10/24

weeknotes family books indigenous

This Week:

  • We all took a vacation to the great city of Toronto and had a great old time. We did lots of tourist stuff with the kiddos, particularly the CN Tower, the Royal Ontario Museum, and Centreville. We also saw many of our good friends (Hi Ian and Liz, Jenn, Monica, and Monika!), and family (Hi Eileen! Hi Nikki and Andrei!). We ate tremendously well, and wore ourselves out walking around a wonderful and interesting city. I love Toronto very much, not for the least that it’s Alanna’s birthplace and the city she grew up in.
  • While in Toronto, I finished reading “The Jumbies” by Tracey Baptiste, with Dominic. It was fine–an interesting grafting of Caribbean folklore to a young adult yarn–but the characters were a little wooden for my taste.
  • I also finished reading “How Much for Just the Planet?” by John M. Ford. My reading of this Star Trek novel came from two sources. The first was this profile of Ford in Slate that piqued my interest in this once-heralded but forgotten science fiction writer. The second was that I remember the book from its cover and humorous title back when I used to visit the B Dalton Bookstore in Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids. I recently found a copy in a book sale at the Landis Arboretum. For much of my read I was confused but intrigued, but by the end I had decided that I loved this strange experiment in grafting slapstick musical comedy to the Star Trek Universe.
  • While away, I received a bit of good news that the NAGPRA grant we applied for was approved. We will use the funds to pay for Ute representatives and knowledge-keepers to visit Hartwick and prepare human remains and objects for return, as well as to pay for the physical transfer of the same remains and objects.