Chinese families would come together to pay the upfront price of bringing a family member to America as an investment in the family’s future.  The cost could be anywhere from $17,000 to $30,000 and the immigrant would then work in any number of jobs to pay off the debt to their family.  Many people took long (and sometimes tragic) routes to reach the United States and the hope of future wealth.

The story starts with the Golden Venture.  The Golden Venture was a boat carrying over 280 illegal Chinese immigrants that ran ashore off of the coast of New York City in 1993.  The people on the boat jumped off and tried to swim to shore.  Many needed to be rescued and some died.  Almost all of the immigrants were caught and arrested and eventually held in jail for years as their cases were appealed and re-appealed.  Previous to this incident illegal Chinese immigrants were coming to America primarily by plane from countries such as Thailand that were a little more relaxed with thoroughly checking the validity of passports.  Once the immigrants reached America they would ask for refugee status due to a number of reasons.  The INS began investigating illegal Chinese immigration more after the incident of the Golden Venture and found that Sister Ping was one of the primary people involved.  Yet it took many many years to catch and prosecute her.

This book takes you through the underworld of Chinatown, the desires of many to come to America at any cost and the world of human smuggling.  It was very interesting and I learned of things, such as the Gold Venture incident, that I had never heard of.  It was a great book.

Claudia is a woman who immigrated from Dominca and is trying to make a better life for herself and her daughter.  She is legally in the country but has the perspective of many women who come to the country illegally and caring for someone’s children is the only option they have.  Claudia works for a couple in New York City caring for their two children.  She is happy with her employers who not only employ her but advocate for her as well.  Claudia lives on the brink of poverty, barely making ends meet, and for her one of the most difficult parts of nannying is that she does not see a future.  She talks of how her employers do better in their employment and make advances and more money, yet she stays the same.  She dreams of taking classes and becoming a nurse but doesn’t find the time or money to do so.

Vivian is a professional nanny.  She belongs to nanny organizations and she strives to make her profession more respected.  Vivian works for a couple who have twin boys.  She has cared for the boys since they were born and takes a very active stance in how they are raised, disciplined and educated.  She considers herself as someone equally involved and invested in the children’s upbringing yet tries to be sure to differentiate her role so that the boys understand who the parents are.  She has a salary with benefits and is very confident and sure of her role in the home.

Kim takes a job with a young couple expecting their first baby as a live in nanny.  She does it mainly because she needs a place to live as she is getting a divorce.  The match does not work from the first day as she is continually disrespected and treated as much as a maid and assistant to her employers as she is a nanny.  Her role is not well defined and Kim continues to work in a place where she feels belittled because she does not know what other options she has.

This book brought up a lot of interesting points in how there are many things to think about when hiring one person to care for your children.  There are issues of jealousy, control, and matching personalities as well as parenting methods.  I would recommend this book to anyone who is thinking about their options of child care.  It was a quick read and gave perspective into the lives of nannies.

I had heard about Pat Tillman as most of us have.  It is one of those events like the Jessica Lynch capture and rescue that were construed as defining moments in the Iraq/Afghanistan war by the media.  The interesting part of this story is that Jon Krakauer writes about how Pat Tillman had gone out of his way to avoid media attention since leaving the NFL.  He did not do interviews and did not want to be made into anything special.

The biographical information that Jon Krakauer provides describes Pat as someone who was always driven and worked hard to meet his goals.  He was small when he was young and still went on to be a great football player in high school, college and later in the NFL, mostly due to hard work.  He challenged himself in many ways through doing marathons and triathalons in his off season.  It sounds as though he lived to experience life and did his best to learn and challenge himself.  After 9/11 Pat started having doubts about his career as a football player and felt that he needed to do something more and he joined the military.  His brother, Kevin, joined as well and served with him throughout his time.  This made the cover up of what truly happened even more remarkable, to me, since his brother was on scene when it happened and just out of view from what had happened.

From the way the book describes the circumstances surrounding Pat’s death, it was obvious pretty quickly that it had been due to friendly fire.  Their platoon had been split in two and one section ended up firing on Pat who had thought he was coming to their aid.  The videos of the battle went missing, the clothes that he was wearing were destroyed and those who were aware of what had happened, which was the majority of the platoon were ordered to keep it a secret as a deliberately misleading account was provided in order to garner better press.

Pat’s wife, Marie, worked with the author in providing information for this book but most of the rest of Pat’s family declined to take part.  His mother has also written a book Boots On the Ground Before Dawn which I am interested in reading.  The one thing that this book really brought to my attention is that the people who are serving in the military and their families are so greatly affected by the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, but for many of the rest of us we live our daily lives without really thinking about it.  The sacrifice is so great for those involved.

Mary found a nursery school in the Brookly area that focused on children who were deaf and had other disabilities such as Christopher.  While going to this school she became a part of a support group of other mother’s who had children with severe disabilities.  A good part of the book is spent with these mothers who are able to express thoughts and feelings with each other that they are not otherwise able to say or share.  Within this group not only Mary is admired, but many of the women are very impressed with Bob and how active he is in the support and advocation for Christopher.  Bob seemed to have reached an acceptance that enabled him to be a role model to others.

This all changed when Christopher was about ten years old.  At this time Bobby was also having some health problems that required him to use crutches a fair amount.  Bob took a new job that he was unable to learn and perform well in and he started having some severe mental health problems where he heard his deceased mother telling him to kill his family.  When he heard/dreamed this he was able to leave his home and eventually told Mary who sought treatment for him.  After a month of inpatient treatment and being put on some new medications Bob was released back home.  Part of his hurry to get home was concern about finances.  Bob lost his job and moved quickly between several jobs.  Mary went back to work to help support the family but Bob continued to show signs stress and depression.

One day when Bob was home with the three children (they had adopted a daughter) Bob systematically killed each of the children with his sons baseball bat.  In the book it spoke about how he tried to inflict the blows in the best way to kill the children quickly and without pain.  He then called Mary to come home from work and killed her. 

In the trial Bob was charged with murder and went with an insanity defense.  He was found not guilty by reason of insanity due to his mental health problems and the strain of caring for his disabled child.  Bob spent several years in a mental institution before being released and trying to start his life over again. 

Throughout this time Bob still had some support from the community.  Many were not supportive, but Bob did keep some friends who felt he truly was not responsible for what he had done due to his mental status.  Bob started a new life out of the mental institution and eventually got remarried and had another child.

This book was very interesting in exploring the cares and struggles of parents of children with disabilities as well as the tragedy that took place in the Rowe home.

The murder happened one night when the girls asked Reena to go to a party with them.  Once she got there she heard that there was a plan to beat her up and she tried to leave.  The girls and a crowd of kids who had been kicked out of the original party site followed Reena and surrounded her taking her to a place underneath a bridge.  Down there a group surrounded and savagely beat Reena until one girl finally spoke up that it was time to stop.  There were some kids who witnessed this beating and did not participate, yet no one called the police or reported anything to their parents.  The next day Reena was reported missing as she had never made it home.  The pieces of the puzzle started coming together, particularly because some of those involved were bragging and talking about beating her up and one told people that she had held Reena’s head under water until she died. 

Approximately a week after this happened the police had the names of some of those involved and began interviewing these 14-16 year olds.  Reena’s body was found floating in the river and the coroner reported she was beaten so badly it was as if she had been hit by a car.  Numerous students who had been involved with the beating or had been witness to it were able to say that they had seen the victim get up and start to walk across the bridge.  They were also able to identify two indivduals who they saw later walking back across the bridge.  It was later learned that these two had followed Reena and continued the beating so that she would not be able to tell on them, and then while she was unconcious the female suspect had held her head under water.

Six teenage girls were eventaully convicted of aggravated assault and served up to a year in detention centers.  The boy that was involved was convicted of second degree murder and went to prison for ten years, eventually being paroled in 2007.  There are several reports that he was very remorseful of his actions and eventually connected with the victim’s family to make peace.  The girl that was involved was convicted of second degree murder but it has gone through several appeal processes.  As far as I could tell from research on the internet she is currently in prison serving time for this murder. 

I’m always interested in true crime stories but this one was just incredible to think about.  A mob of teenagers, some who didn’t even know the victim, were willing to participate in such a serious beating…or ignore it and not report what had happened.  The mob mentality is something that we studied in psychology class and this seemed to be an example of no one being willing to accept responsibility or step apart from the crowd.  And a life was lost because of it.

There were some little controversies involved with Facebooks creation that I was unaware of.   Eduardo Saverin plays a big role in this book.  He was one of Mark’s friends at Harvard and eventually was involved with Facebook’s creation as a managing partner when Mark needed money for servers and, as the site grew, to pay other students to help keep up with development.  Eduardo put some money in up front and worked one summer to find investors in New York while Mark and the other developers moved to Silicon Valley and concentrated on bulding the huge social networking site.  It was during this time when Mark became friends with Sean Parker (Napster) and started connecting with investors on his own.  Facebook began growing by leaps and bounds during this time and Eduardo was eventually phased out.  My understanding is that he is involved with a lawsuit at the present time to redeem some of the recognition (and I assume monetary rewards) that come with being a cofounder of Facebook.

The other main story line had to do with the Winklevoss twins who had approached Mark during his time at Harvard to be a programmer for a site that they had been working to develop.  Their idea was to have it exclusive to Harvard and have it be a dating/social site to help save time for busy college students.  From Winklevoss’ side Mark acted as though he was programming their site for weeks before giving reasons why he was not going to do it and then coming out with Facebook, which initially was only open to Harvard students.  The Winklevoss twins eventually started a website called ConnectU but felt that their idea had been stolen out from under them.  They also became involved in a legal battle with Mark Zuckerberg and according to the book eventually settled for many millions.

While all of this was interesting, what I really would have liked to hear was this story from Mark Zuckerberg’s perspective.  He is the one that developed this idea that took off to become the 2nd most visited website on the internet.  It’s not that I don’t believe the accounts of others but it would have been much more interesting to hear about how this skyrocketed and his accounts of the problems with Eduardo and the Winklevoss twins.  I just didn’t finish the book feeling like a full picture of the true creation of Facebook had been painted.

Deo was a third year medical student in Burundi when violence erupted between the Hutus and Tutsis, two different ethnic groups in the area.  Deo shares some of his earlier life and how he first heard the words “Hutu” and “Tutsi” but also how this was not a difference that you could necessarily see by looking at your neighbors and friends.  These are two groups who lived side by side, shared food religion and culture.  As a Tutsi his life was threatened during this time in Burundi and Deo hid in the hospital that he worked in while many people were killed and then fled for six months on food into Rwanada and straight into the midst of more killing and death.  Deo unlikely got a work visa that allowed him to escape to New York City.

Deo arrived in New York City with $200 knowing no one.  He working as a delivery person for a grocery store and slept in abandoned warehouses and Central Park until he started making friends who worked together to help him.  He ended up being able to go to Columbia and continue his pursuit for a medical degree.  Deo experiences a lot of confusion, nightmares and depression while he is living in New York and adjusting to his life in America.  He finds his peace through medicine.

Deo is connected with Dr. Paul Farmer (from Mountains beyone Mountains by Tracy Kidder) and ends up working for Partners In Health (PIH) and learning about their system of health care and clinics in Haiti and other countries.  Deo decides to return to Burundi to try to bring a similar system of healthcare there.  He takes Tracy Kidder through Burundi and goes through the horrors of his escape as wll as some of the highlights of his life there.  Deo returns to his parents village and along with the community begins building a clinic that will serve all without regard to payment.  They train local workers to work within the community on prevention and other health issues.  One of the things that is mentioned in this book is that Deo does this in a community that is primarily Hutu at this point.  And he promotes peace and works to teach people to overlook this and live with each other promoting well being. 

I was very moved by this book and was glad to hear about how the work of Dr. Paul Farmer continues to impact individuals to promote change in the world.  I am sure that there are many other stories of horror and escape during this 1993-94 in Burundi and Rwanda and that there is resilience that I can not begin to understand.  What impressed me so much with this story is Deo’s drive to return to the place of his nightmares and work to make it a better place.

This is a book written by an injured runner looking for an answer to the continuing problems he has just trying to run several miles a day a few times a week.  After seeing doctors, specialists, and many others the general conclusion seems to be that human bodies just aren’t built to run.  The jarring impact of each step results in more injuries then almost any sport.  The author did not give up and continued to seek out runners, sports writers and coaches who might have answers.

In this pursuit he discovered the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico who are able to run miles and miles and miles across very difficult terrain.  And they do it with joy and good spirit.  In tracing this group down to learn their secrets he discovers another American who has come to live among the Tarahumara mainly for the joy of running the trails in the area and he peace and joy that it brings him.  He speaks with Christopher McDougall about what he has learned and tries to set up a race between the Tarahumara and other ultramarathon elite in the Tarahumara’s own land.  Racers are gathered for this difficult 50 mile race to determine whether the legend of the Tarahumara can match up with the best in the world.

Throughout this narrative the author weaves information about diet and sportswear and the impact these things have on running.  He talks with many people who argue that the more expensive and high tech a running shoe is, the more dangerous it is to a runner.  The arguments are centered around the fact that running barefoot (or close to it) strengthens your feet and helps your body to naturally adjust your stride in order to cope with changes in terrain and the pounding that it takes.  Running barefoot leads people to take shorter strides and land more on the ball of their feet distributing the weight and cushioning the impact.  Running in highly padded running shoes leads people to land on their heels and not make the adjustments that are needed to avoid injury.  He offers a lot of evidence that running related injuries have increased in the last 40 years since the invention of high tech running shoes.

In the end a great race is held that brings people from different cultures and backgrounds together to run over 50 miles.  The first stays to cheer for the last and as an ex-runner, it reminded me very much of the comraderie that goes on between runners.  It reminded me of the joy that can be felt in challenging your body to it’s limits…although I’m not sure if it convinced me to start training for an ultramarathon.  It was a great mix of information and history built around the moving story of a race.  I would highly recommend this book.

This book also looks at the different components of fast food such as the meat industry, farming (potatoes/french fries).  I am not a vegetarian but after reading about the slaughter house industry I have to admit I’m looking at my meat a little differently…and thinking more about the people who need to work in those jobs.  One interesting thing I did learn (for those vegetarians out there) is that McDonald’s french fries were cooked in vegetable oil with beef tallow until just recently.  Even though they were described as being vegetarian.

This book made me think a lot more about the food that we choose to put into our bodies and the price that cheap, affordable fast food comes at.  I do have to admit that through a lot of the chapters I was craving french fries, but that also shows how strong those associations are that I only need to read the word McDonalds and think about french fries.  I’m glad that I read this book and I hope in a little while I will be able to say that it has effected my food choices in more of a long term way.

The babies parents go along with the process and attempt to raise Bruce as a girl.  Throughout their years growing up the twins are subjected to testing and analysis with doctors and psychiatrists to see how effective the gender reassignment was.  It was pretty clearly evident even from early on that it was not very successful.

Bruce/Brenda continued to be interested in more traditionally “boy” interests, toys and activities and did not seem to understand why his parents tried to continually push dresses and dolls upon him.  Even as he was taking hormones and going through the process of becoming female he felt very much like a boy.  At age fourteen he was finally told the truth about what happened when he was a baby and he decided immediately to do what he could to become a male.  This, obviously, was a very painful and confusing process.  In the end, Bruce/Brenda was successful in reclaiming his male identity.  He changed his name to David and eventually got married.

This true story seemed to make an obvious case that nature is a very important part of gender and that it is established from a very early age.  I admire that this man was willing to open up his life to a book such as this, especially after spending most of his younger years being studied as an “experiment” by several doctors.