Amy's Book Club Pick

“Fireweed,” by Terry Montague; and
“Sophie Scholl and the White Rose,” by Jud Newborn and Annette Dumbach

11:30 a.m. Saturday, January 10

Site: The Other Place

Cafe Oasis

Nessie's Pick

"Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim," 

by David Sedaris

11:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 8 

Cafe Oasis in SLC

Gardner Village

Ivan's pick: 

"To Kill a Mocking Bird," by Harper Lee. 

11:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 20. 

Place: Archibald's in Gardner Village

 

A MIGHTY GIRL

One of Germany’s most famous anti-Nazi heroes, Sophie Scholl, was born in 1921. As a university student in Munich, Scholl, along with her brother, Hans, and several friends, formed a non-violent, anti-Nazi resistance group called the White Rose. The group ran a leaflet and graffiti campaign calling on their fellow Germans to resist Hilter's regime.

Scholl became involved in resistance organizing after learning of the mass killings of Jews and reading an anti-Nazi sermon by Clemens August Graf von Galen, the Roman Catholic Bishop of Münster. She was deeply moved by the "theology of conscience" and declared, "Somebody, after all, had to make a start. What we wrote and said is also believed by many others. They just don't dare express themselves as we did."
In 1943, Scholl and the other members of the White Rose were arrested by the Gestapo for distributing leaflets at the University of Munich and taken to Stadelheim Prison. After a short trial on February 22, 1943, Scholl, her brother Hans and their friend Christop Probst, all pictured here, were found guilty of treason and sentenced to death.
At her execution only a few hours later, Scholl made this final statement: "How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?"
Following the deaths of the White Rose's leaders, their final leaflet was smuggled to England. In mid-1943, Allied Forces dropped millions of copies of the "Manifesto of the Students of Munich" over Germany. Scholl is now honored as one of the great German heroes who actively opposed the Nazi regime.
For two books for adult readers about Sophie Scholl and the White Rose, check out "Sophie Scholl and the White Rose" (http://amzn.to/1pEAtXb) and "The White Rose: Munich, 1942-1943" (http://amzn.to/1jnUEZu).
For an excellent film about Scholl's incredible story, we highly recommend "Sophie Scholl – The Final Days" which received an Oscar nomination for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2005. The film, recommended for viewers 13 and up, is an excellent way to introduce teens to the bravery and perseverance of those who resisted the Nazi regime -- learn more at http://www.amightygirl.com/sophie-scholl-the-final-days
For books for both children and teens about girls and women who lived during the Holocaust period, including stories of other heroic resisters and rescuers, check out our post for Holocaust Remembrance Week at http://www.amightygirl.com/blog/?p=2726
For our recommendations of the best books and films about another real-life Mighty Girl who lived during this period, visit our tribute to Anne Frank: "Hope in a Hidden Room: A Mighty Girl Salutes Anne Frank" at http://www.amightygirl.com/blog?p=2815
To browse our entire "WWII/Holocaust", visit http://www.amightygirl.com/books/history-biography/history-world?cat=186
For more true stories of heroic girls and women, visit A Mighty Girl's "Heroes" section in biographies at http://www.amightygirl.com/books/history-biography/biography?cat=367

Next Book Club meeting is slated for Saturday, Sept. 20. 

Nessie is taking a few extra days to choose the book. Her original pick for "Fifty Shades of Grey" was unanimously overruled. 
Sorry Ness! :0

Here is a fun article to read in the meantime: "9 Things to Never Say in Book Club."

http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/26/living/bad-book-club-talk/

SEVEN MIRACLES THAT SAVED AMERICA

Our Patriotic Book Club meeting was at Salt Lake Burger Company in Sandy on Saturday, July 12.

Patty chose the book "Seven Miracles that Saved America," by Chris Stewart and Steve Stewart (no relation to me, unfortunately.) 

This meeting was different in that we each took a chapter to report on. It was really interesting learning more about our country.

Patty even brought a YUMMY apple pie to share with us! :)

I was having so much fun, I forgot to take photos! Am missing Martha, Patty and Beverly. :( Ivan and Deb were absent -- hope you two can make it next time! :)

May 17 Book Club at Market Street Grill! :) 

Book Club Rotation: Amy, Kathryn, Martha, Deb, Beverly, Patty, Nessie, Ivan

Next Book Club pick: Beverly's Choice

"Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet," by Jamie Ford
11:30 a.m. Saturday, May 17

BOOK CLUB March 29: UNPLUGGED AND UNCENSORED! ;)

At Ruth's Diner!

And... we finally got a table! ;)

Not Without Hope

(This is a somewhat cheesy little story I wrote for the newsletter at my first social work internship. My director said it didn't belong in the newsletter and she threw it away. I use it for my suicidal patients now -- they seem to like it.)

Not Without Hope


By Amy K. Stewart


Ethaniel Weiss had a tiny piece of dried, moldy, dark brown bread 
hidden in the fold of his scratchy wool blanket on the barrack cot he
 shared with three other men in the concentration camp in Germany.
It
 was January, 1945. Ethaniel had been in the camp for almost a year 
since he and hundreds of other Jews had been rounded up, shoved into
 cattle cars and shipped to the camp.
 Ethaniel’s wife Sarah and daughter Meira had arrived to the camp at
 the same time. He never saw them again. 
Ethaniel and his grown son
 Moshe were some of the few original survivors. They had endured
 beatings, disease and continuous hard labor in the scorching heat of
 the summer and the biting chill of the winter.
 Ethaniel helped his son survive by stealing food whenever he could. He
 once stood in front of a guard and begged for his son’s life,
 receiving a swift blow to the head as a result.
 
Moshe would listen each day as his father told him to remember the 
times they had spent as a family, ice skating on the pond, walking to
 the downtown square for ice cream, sitting around the large oak table 
in the dining room cutting into roast duck. “You can have all these 
things again one day. We must not give up hope. We have to hang on. We
 have to survive. Promise me you will not give up,” he continuously told his son.

That night Ethaniel was weak with fever. He tossed and turned, knowing
 the guards would be rousting the men in just a few hours. He reached 
into the blanket for the crust of bread. It was gone. His son,
 sleeping next to him, turned over so his back faced his father and 
said nothing.

The next day while working side by side digging ditches, Ethaniel
 could barely stand up. He was delirious with fever. “The bread… the
 bread,” he mumbled. Moshe turned to his father, “I was hungry.”

Ethaniel could not believe his ears. His son. His very own son. Betrayed.

That night Ethaniel grew even sicker. He had typhus but if anyone
 found out how ill he was, he would be sent to “the showers” -- never
 to return. Images of his wife Sarah floated in his head. He reached 
out for her. 
The next morning Moshe awoke to find his father’s body 
cold and lifeless next to him. Ethaniel had given up. The act of his 
son’s betrayal had been too much for him to bear. 
Moshe was suddenly aware of something else. It was quiet in the camp
 and sunlight was streaming through the open doorway. The men
 cautiously ventured outside. In the distance they could hear the
 rumbling of tanks. No one knew what to do. Foreign-looking men in
 uniform began to filter into the camp. The tanks were topped with a 
red, white and blue flag.

If only Ethaniel had known. If only he had held on one more day. If
 only he had not given up hope.
 No one truly knows what their future will hold. All we know is that we can hope.

OUR NEXT BOOK! Deb's choice "Sycamore Row" by John Grisham which is the sequel to "A Time to Kill." 
12:30 SATURDAY, MARCH 29

.

Our next book! Kidding! ;)

 

Next Book Club Meeting:

 11 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 11

Place: Feldman’s Deli 

2005 East 2700 South, Salt Lake City 

Martha's pick: "Life in a Jar: The Irena Sendler Project," by Jack Mayer

 

From Amy: 

Some of my favorite passages:

Page 60, regarding Megan looking at historical photographs of the Holocaust:

"The photographs disturbed her the most -- black-and-white images of starving children and orphans staring at her through the mystery of time and the harsh freezing of a painful moment. No doubt all of these children had died shortly after these photos were taken. They were not the abstraction called "The Holocaust," not an imagined reconstruction in words; they were specific children, so real that she felt she could enter their photographs, or they could step out of their hell. Their skeletal faces beseeched her, their bony hands reach out to her for bread."

I feel this is incredibly great writing and brings to the forefront the horror and trauma of the Holocaust victims. A photo is a slice of time -- a slight reminder of a moment that people would not know about or eventually would forget.

---

Page 221, when Irena and her friend Janina, stay up late into the night talking.

"They talked about how times had changed, how their lives had unfolded in unimaginable ways. Janina said, "If I would have made this up in 1936 you would have said I as crazy and you would have been right."

I can really relate to this because my life has been incredibly unpredictable (definitely not boring) the last few years. No one can foretell the future. If anyone would have told me 10 years ago that I would be spending the summer of 2013 living with my nephew in the Avenues, finishing my degree at the U, interning at Odyssey House and studying for a social work licensing exam, I would have told them they were completely crazy.
---

Page 261, Mr. C is telling a Native American story.

"... it was as if there were two wolves that lived inside him who fought each other for his soul. One wolf was vengeful and angry, the other forgiving and kind. The boy asked, `Which one wins, Grandfather?' The old man smiled and said, `The one I feed.'"

I am actually going to research this Native American story. I believe how we think affects not only our emotional well-being but also our physical state. Negativity, stress, hatred, anger, grudges, sniping, judging -- is all like a poison that you pour into your body.