Our Magazine Archive - Beaufort Books

Jennifer Pharr Davis: A Woman Among Men

Friday, November 11th, 2011

Jennifer Pharr Davis did it again! Announced just yesterday, she has been nominated by National Geographic as one of the Top Ten Adventurers, 2012. Jen’s prolific achievement on the Appalachian Trail–she is now the world-record holder of the fastest thru-hike ever on the AT, man or woman–has earned her this impressive recognition. Her story is one of persistence and unmatched inner calm in the face of so many doubting Thomases. Most interestingly, Jen occupies a spot most commonly held by men. Yes, even in the world of adventuring, or perhaps even more so, it is men who usually take the day. Sweating up peaks, sustaining bruises, and eating massive amounts of food is not very lady-like.

However, there is Jen: against all odds, against all stereotypes, she remains a powerful woman in a male-dominated world. She’s proven through her grueling feat that stamina and strength are not only for men, but for any who would just reach out and grab them. Jen’s record-breaking hike is a dream dreamed differently; the attainment of what she desired was not informed or shaped or altered by the people (men) who had gone before her. She dreamed without qualifications.

Jen herself puts it best when she says in the National Geographic interview that she “just want[s] women to know that they have the same options as men, whether that’s a thru-hike, a day hike, or a record, or going out for the weekend. . . . I think as it [thru-hiking] continues to evolve, women are going to feel more connected to it now, because they know they have the ability to go out and do something amazing on the trail.”

All of us at Beaufort Books would agree with that. We congratulate Jennifer Pharr Davis on her recognition and hope that her example stands as a reminder to dreamers everywhere that it isn’t what’s happened before that matters, it’s what you decide to do now.

To see the official National Geographic page for JPD, click here:

http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/adventurers-of-the-year/2012/jennifer-pharr-davis/

To Still a Spinning World: Barbara Gordon’s Gift

Wednesday, October 19th, 2011

Barbara Gordon’s I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can has been coming to mind a lot lately in this season of impending holidays, impending deadlines. Living in this fast-paced world, a world where material success is the ultimate measure of happiness and where the number of expectations that we’re able to juggle simultaneously is a sign of our strength, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. More importantly, it’s easy to forget that we’re human. It’s easy to forget that what we’re all in need of is time, that is, space for unmediated growth. Instead, we run and we run and we run, never once questioning what it is we’re chasing and why the race is so important in the first place.

What’s valuable about Dancing, among many other things, is that author Gordon has given herself the chance to slow down and write honestly about this unending web most of us unconsciously allow ourselves to get caught up in. What is this manic motion? What is this constant need to be better, faster, shinier? Why is there never an “enough”? In reflecting on her own struggles with these questions, Gordon gives us all a chance to breathe.

What’s more, Gordon is brave. She confronts something insidious, her very life-orientation, her very way of relating to the world. She dissects and deconstructs everything she’d ever known previously. Gordon’s example invites us all to stop blindly assuming we’re always where we should be, heedlessly consuming the things society tells us we ought, and subconsciously presuming that our life is filling in the way that’s right for each of us. She gives us the inspiration to step back from the dance that is our lives for even just one precious moment and reflect on what it is about dancing that we love most. She encourages us to dance for that, and nothing else.

Praise for I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can:

“Spellbinding seems too mild a word.” –Detroit Free Press
“Gordon’s story rings with authenticity.” –Washington Post
“I can hardly remember the last time I stayed up half the night because I couldn’t stop reading. But that’s what happened with I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can.” –Chicago Tribune

I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can, written by Barbara Gordon. Re-released this month by Moyer Bell, a division of Beaufort Books. Available now in bookstores across the nation.

Where are All the Women Writers? A Reflection

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011

The scene is this: A bookshelf, sagging. Rows upon rows of many-colored spines. And each spine’s title recalls specific, special memories…standing on a too-hot beach, confusion and fury all around (The Stranger)…seeing your kid-brother in everything you do (The Catcher in the Rye)…fire-crackering the town clock in an effort to stop yourself from growing up (Farewell Summer). These memories are visceral and overwhelming and all-important.

However, there’s one thing that most people don’t notice when they take inventory of their books: the vast majority of their collection is no doubt comprised of male writers. Writers who have taught us and moved us and shaped us, but males nonetheless. Where are all the women? It is almost eerie to think that so much of our imaginations, both collective and personal, have been formed in large part by only one half of our species. While I can list scores of writers that have stayed with me, I can count on my hand those that have been written by women: Cather, Oates, Erdrich, (Zadie) Smith. The incredible majority of books that have meant something to me have had male authors (Salinger, Greene, Capote, Wallace, Hardy, Percy, Malamud, Vonnegut, Kesey, Toole, Frazier, Chateaubriand, Bradbury,William Carlos Williams) and I never thought twice about it until this weekend, when the disparity on my shelf jolted me out of my dreamy process of looking lovingly at books read long-ago.

More importantly, think of all the books that we want to read, that we feel foolish if we haven’t read. They’re The Grapes of Wrath and The Sun Also Rises and Anna Karenina and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the 1984s of the world. This is our canon, this is our standard, and there are very, very few women who are a part of it.

Perhaps none of this is all that shocking. Men have had so much more time on women, as their voices have never been contested. And the fact that I can name any women writers, all of whom are powerhouses in their own right, is significant and wonderful. However, I do think it is time to peel back what often is an invisible film, time to really look at all of those stories and feelings and voices that we take for granted and which form our subconscious subconsciously. There are whole worlds of description underrepresented on our bookshelves (and this applies to the impoverished as much to the female.) What are we not hearing/seeing/thinking/feeling? During this Banned Book Week, a week for protecting and promoting that which is precious and endangered, it seems relevant to mention that there is a completely different type of preciousness that is just as worth seeking out and safeguarding: the voice of a woman.

List of My Top 10 Favorite Books by Women: Which Have You Read?
**please note: this list is obviously self-compiled, but this fact arose out of necessity: there are no formal lists that I could find! Truly shocking, truly a reminder of that which we’re not hearing. **

1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
2. A Widow’s Story by Joyce Carol Oates
3. The Plague of Doves by Louise Erdrich
4. On Beauty by Zadie Smith
5. Bitter in the Mouth by Monique Truong
6. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
7. The Petty Details of So-and-So’s Life by Camilla Gibb
8. Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays by Zadie Smith
9. O! Pioneers by Willa Cather
10. A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

And for a more structural look at why women writers are underrepresented, and general observations on being a woman writer in the U.S., check out this great article by the ever-articulate Elaine Showalter: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/09/female-novelists-usa

Beau-na Fide Bird’s-Eye View

Tuesday, September 20th, 2011

Think back to your first real, first serious book that you read in school. You know, the one where there may have been a curse word, or real inequality, or historic acts of cruelty. What about the first one where there was a real relationship, a first kiss or romantic moment, or even one where it wasn’t in a “perfect setting” and described the trials and tribulations the main characters had to overcome to survive. Now, close your eyes, and imagine that book and your life having never read it.

Enter disgruntled adults in favor of censorship. In opposition of taking away readers’ First Amendment rights, Banned Book Week was created in 1982, celebrating those titles and our freedom to choose what we read.

Since the written word became the published story, classics have been consumed by readers internationally, studied and appreciated a million times daily. “On July 21, 1998, the Radcliffe Publishing Course compiled and released its own list of the century’s top 100 novels, at the request of the Modern Library editorial board,” http://www.modernlibrary.com/top-100/radcliffes-rival-100-best-novels-list/. Now, what if I were to tell you that 50% of the best novels of all times are also banned books? Below are those from Radcliffe’s 100 list.

1. The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
3. The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck
4. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
5. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
6. Ulysses, by James Joyce
7. Beloved, by Toni Morrison
8. The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
9. 1984, by George Orwell
11. Lolita, by Vladmir Nabokov
12. Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
15. Catch-22, by Joseph Heller
16. Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
17. Animal Farm, by George Orwell
18. The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway
19. As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
20. A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway
23. Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
24. Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
25. Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
26. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell

27. Native Son, by Richard Wright

28. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
29. Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
30. For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway
33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London
36. Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin

38. All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren
40. The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
45. The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
48. Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
49. A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
50. The Awakening, by Kate Chopin
53. In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
55. The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
57. Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
64. Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
66. Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
67. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
73. Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
74. Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh
75. Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
80. The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
84. Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
88. An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
97. Rabbit, Run, by John Updike

Additionally, there is Animal Farm by George Orwell, which addresses both historical and political downfalls of the past, which shows readers how the Stalin regime dominated and what SHOULD have been done or seen, or what we are to look out for now in political turmoil. The Giver by Lois Lowry, describes a utopian society, but at what cost? The protagonist must choose right from wrong, all while coming of age, and what’s unrealistic about that? My Brother Sam Is Dead by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier, is set during the American Revolution where a boy grows up during the war and has to choose his morals versus his family’s ideals; completely relevant to every generation.

Lois Duncan, Shel Silverstein, Maya Angelou, Margaret Atwood, Ernest Hemingway, Roald Dahl, Toni Morrison, Mark Twain, and even J.K. Rowling and Maurice Sendak. All some of world’s greatest and strongest minds, all questioned for writing about life in their own way.

In the last twenty years, according to the ALA, it was in the mid-’90s when the banned book bandwagon really gained momentum, challenging nearly 800 titles annually. However, most recently in 2010, there have been the least amount of challenges since 1990, only 348. The reason behind the majority of these challenges is sexual content, followed by language, violence, and unsuitability for an age group. Parents lead this frontier with 6,103 and schools were the top institution at 4,048. These statistics are logical yet intriguing.

In celebration for our Constitution, let us read all of the wonderful works out there, and this year, there’s a new spin- the Virtual Read Out. Pick your favorite banned book, find a meaningful passage to you, and hit record. YouTube has a BBW Channel for you to share the excerpts you chose to read aloud. For full details, go to www.bannedbooksweek.org and celebrate your F-READ-OM!

The Beau-na Fide Bird’s-Eye View

Tuesday, September 6th, 2011

There is a lot going on in the world today. The first day of the 2011 school year, National Read a Book Day, Freddie Mercury’s sixty-fifth birthday, Princess Diana’s funeral was fourteen years ago, Magellan circumnavigated the world back in 1522, and back in 1958, comedian and published author Jeff Foxworthy was born.

What does this all mean? National Read a Book Day is perfect for today. The US Open’s day and evening sessions were canceled because of unwavering rainfall, and picking up a good read is exactly what most players and fans will now do as a way of staying warm, dry, and relaxed in recovering from the splendid Labor Day Weekend.

As for the Queen musician, Google created a cartoon montage of Freddie Mercury’s iconic look accompanied with a song, and as a whole, it has a Peter Gabriel-meets-Yellow Submarine feel. Quite catchy and brilliant, actually. Magellan and Princess Diana, though she was of Wales and he was traveling for Spain, both need no explanation, just simply notoriety that today they were bittersweetly a part of history.

As for Jeff Foxworthy, who is known for his blue-collar comedy, has turned a new leaf by publishing his latest book with us, “Hide!!!”, a hide-and-seek children’s adventure! This book is a perfect interactive read for parents and children, or a group of young readers to enjoy together. Foxworthy’s light-heartedness truly captures the interest of all who explore it.

Beyond the bird’s eye view of today, many New Yorkers, New Englanders, and Americans know what is coming up: the ten-year anniversary of 9/11. As towns finalize their memorials, newspapers and publishers prepare to relive that day in remembrance for those whose lives were forever changed on that picturesque Tuesday morning.

Jennifer Pharr Davis beats the Appalachian Trail Thru-Hike Record

Tuesday, August 30th, 2011

Recap of Unforgettable Finish

The Last Day- 36.2 miles
Start time: 2:45am
End time: 3:26pm

Jen, Carl, Maureen, and I woke up at 2:45 again. Jen was making some pretty terrible sounds as she got ready. Like, “I’ve been hiking 47 miles a day for 45 days straight and have gotten a total of 7.5 hours of sleep the last two nights” sort of sounds.

Carl said, “This is how it feels.” We talked later about that and what he meant- more or less- was, “This is how it feels when you’ve pushed yourself to the limit. And this is what you’ve got to overcome if you’re going to do something great.” I thought I knew what he meant when he said it. But I could tell Jen didn’t because she just groaned some more.

Anyway, they set off at 3:05. I was nervous again because you never know what can happen when someone’s night hiking on less than 4 hours of sleep. But Jen and Carl reached Neels Gap around 5:25.

Neither of them touched the hard boiled egg and mozzarella string cheese wraps I’d made them. I have to admit, I was a little insulted. I’ve been getting rave reviews for my wraps all trip- beginning with Dutch- and I’m not used to being rejected.

Carl chugged two Ensure shakes then they began climbing Blood Mountain a few minutes later. Maureen and I drove around to Woody Gap. When we got there at 6:05, Jen’s two brothers Jones and James were there. (Jones and his wife Jackie flew down from New York by way of Charlotte, where they have a place. James, Lindsay, and Hazel came straight from Litchfield Beach in South Carolina.)

I asked them if they knew Jen wouldn’t be there until 9 or so, and they said yes. James added, “This [waking up ridiculously early] is what I get for hanging out with my brother the banker.”

We talked until 7 or so then I told them I needed to take a nap. James took a nap, too. I think Jones stayed awake and talked to Maureen, but I’m not sure because I was passed out and drooling for the next hour and a half.

Jen came in at 9:05, but Carl was nowhere in sight. When she got to the car, she told us he had to stop early in the 10.6-mile stretch because he’d gotten sick. Carl had been having stomach issues for weeks. Plus, he’d just finished helping organize a road race that ran through TN from MO to GA.

Jen said she waited for him for a few minutes, then decided she couldn’t control when he got there but she could control when she got to us. I should mention that, like any good Sherpa, Carl was carrying the snacks and drinks.

So after Jen got down a Pepsi- along with one of my gourmet and under-appreciated egg wraps- she elaborated on what how she’d felt with no food or water for 10+ miles. At one point, she said half-jokingly, “I saw a lot of animals on that stretch- I just don’t know if they were all real.”

But she felt better after taking in some more snacks and juice water, and she and Jones were heading for Gooch Gap by 9:15. Maureen and I drove around while James waited for Carl to come out of the woods.

Apparently, Jones was really pushing Jen and saying things like, “Come on… you should be running right now! This is a runnable section.” So she ran for a while and they got in at 10:21. James and Carl were nowhere in sight so Jones hiked/ran the next section to Cooper Gap.

At some point along the way, I stopped to check the map and realized that James and Carl were behind Maureen’s enormous diesel-engine Ford truck. When we got to Cooper Gap, Carl told us how he’d stopped so Jen couldn’t hear him throw up because she said if she’d heard him, she’d have probably gotten sick, too. So he was sprawled out on all fours in the middle the trail, puking his guts out for five minutes.

Eventually, he got to his feet and started hiking again but as he ran down Blood Mountain to catch up with Jen, he jostled his stomach enough that he got sick again. Then he realized he wasn’t going to catch her, so he took a side trail down to Winfield Scott State Park where he hoped to hitch a ride to Woody Gap.

A guy in a truck took him a mile or two before he had to turn off, but no one else would pick him up so he had to road walk the remaining 7 miles. But he made it. And we were glad. The Pit Crew had gone 46 days without a lost-time injury. We didn’t want to ruin the streak so close to the end.

Jen and Jones reached Cooper Gap around 11:35, and James hiked with her from there.

Eventually, people realized that they couldn’t reach me on my phone because I’d thrown it in a Dairy Queen Blizzard so they started tracking me down on Jen’s phone. It turned out to be a good thing because I was able to give my parents directions to Hightower Gap and they were able to meet us there.

Jen and James came through around 12:45 and only stayed for a few minutes before pressing on toward Three Forks, which was 4 miles away. At this point, Jen could definitely smell the barn.

My sister Dearing and I drove around to Three Forks where Warren was waiting. He’d rearranged his schedule and driven hours out of his way so he could meet Jen at Three Forks and hand her a cup of water from the stream.

When Jen got to Three Forks, I cranked John Cowan’s version of “Mighty Clouds of Joy” from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival compilation. (She would ask me to sing that song whenever I walked with her on the flat stretches of trail.)

From Three Forks, Jen and James had 3.3 miles to Forest Service Road 42. They reached it around 3:05. Everyone was on top of Springer except Jen’s mom- who was waiting to take photos of Jen and James- and me. I played “The Cave” by Mumford and Sons. That’s been the unofficial theme song this summer because it talks about “strength through pain” and it makes lots of allusion to the Odyssey.

Jen started sobbing. I cried, too. We hugged, and I said, “You did it…” And she said, “No. We did it…” We held hands on our way up Springer. I asked if Jen would want to hug people or take photos or do anything else before finishing, and she said, “I just want to touch the rock.”

I asked her if she wanted to know who was here and she said “no.” Every now and then, she would take gasping breaths and start crying again, but then she’d regain her composure.

Jen’s family friend Serena, who’d fed Jen lasagna on a tablecloth in northeast TN, took some photos a hundred yards or so from the rock. When we got near the summit, we could hear all the people.

We came out of the woods onto the granite slab and everyone had their cameras out. There were 45 or so people there. They all started cheering and taking photos. Jen started crying again. We touched the sign together then we hugged and cried some more. It was kind of funny having so many people around. Everyone recognized how awkward it was and as the cameras flashed someone said something about a “private moment.” Everyone laughed.

Jen looked at her watch to mark the time. 3:26pm. 46 days, 11 hours, and 20 minutes after she touched the sign on Katahdin. Then we sat on the rock and took it all in.

Jen saw her Samford friend Emily who’d driven all the way from Mississippi with her husband Jeff. She didn’t know Emily was coming so she started crying all over again. And that happened several more times because people Jen cared about so much had driven so far.

Her Samford roommate Katie had driven from Birmingham with her husband David, son Peter, and mom Beth. Mark Catlin, another Samford friend, had driven 15 hours round trip from Raleigh with his wife and son to spend an hour on top of Springer. And loads of friends, family, and strangers from western NC, TN, GA, AL, and SC.

Warren stood off in the background taking it all in, wearing a green shirt with a white blaze on it, looking very much like a part of the AT. I hugged him and said “thank you.” We both started to cry and he said, “thank you… thank you…” He hugged me so tight I almost couldn’t breathe.

It was all very special and wonderful. Like a wedding.

After all the photos and hugs, Jen signed the register. It was short and sweet. She wrote, “Full of love, appreciation, memories, and no regrets! – Jennifer Pharr Davis “Odyssa” July 31, 2011.” Eventually people started straggling back down the mountain.

A few friends and family got lost along on the way to Springer, but we got to see them in the parking lot. Jen’s friend Alice who drove up from Atlanta, brought champagne and plastic cups. We cranked Mumford and Sons again. Jen and I danced to “The Cave.” After another 20 or 30 minutes, everyone said their goodbyes and we headed our separate ways.

As Jen and I were driving back down forest service road 42, we stopped to ask a group of soldiers who were doing military exercises which was the quickest way down to Dahlonega. They asked if we’d been to Springer to see the endurance hiker, and we told them Jen was the endurance hiker.

They called their sergeant over because he wanted to shake her hand and congratulate her. We thanked them for serving our country then drove toward Helen where we spent the night with our friends Frank and Lauren at Lauren’s parents’ mountain house (Thanks, Don and Genevieve!).

We visited with them for a while, ate some pizza then went to bed. And that was the end of our arduous, sublime adventure.

Psalm 91

1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

2 I will say of the LORD, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”

3 Surely he will save you from the fowler’s snare and from the deadly pestilence.

4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

5 You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day,

6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.

8 You will only observe with your eyes and see the punishment of the wicked.

9 If you say, “The LORD is my refuge,” and you make the Most High your dwelling,

10 no harm will overtake you, no disaster will come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways;

12 they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra; you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

15 He will call on me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him.

16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.”

For more info on Jen’s experience, visit her blog, where this post originated.

BEAUnhomie: YA Fiction

Monday, June 20th, 2011

A few weeks back, Wall Street Journal children’s book reviewer Meghan Cox Gourdon published a controversial article lamenting the “explicit abuse, violence, and depravity” rife in today’s young adult fiction. The topic quickly generated a lot of buzz on Twitter and immediately drew criticism from media outlets, YA authors, and the ALA. Yet with all of the outcry from true-blue adults, I felt that it might be time for a young adult voice to chime in. (Though obviously I’m not the first — I myself only stumbled upon the issue when reading a friend’s blog post, from where she is interning at a conservative news site.)

Articles like Gourdon’s tend to surface a few times a year, all with a certain fundamental problem: most of their writers seem to have totally forgotten what it was like to be a young reader. In fact, I suspect that they forgot what it was like to be a young adult. Their criticisms of modern fiction for being too dark or too sad, and their passionate defense of their children’s “happiness, moral development and tenderness of heart,” originates from idealized visions of youth. True, I’m not really old enough to have earned much nostalgia, but I have found that nostalgia tends to cloud memory more than clarify it. In falling prey to nostalgia, many have glossed over the reality of growing up: the curiosity and confusion, the exploration and missteps. It would be a very strange and sanitized childhood that had absolutely no contact with death, or depression, or pain, or sex. YA literature, as with all literature, provides a means of understanding that.

Adolescence requires darker and more complex literature than what many adults seem to expect. But the darkness in YA lit is not just craven, opportunistic reactiveness. It provides a way out. Though Gourdon is right to say that entertainment shapes taste, she forgets the other half of the equation: when need creates a space that art is called to fill. The “moral development” that she calls for is admirable, but what does morality even mean when there are no stakes? Can there really be redemption without trauma or fallenness? There’s a much stronger, brighter moral vision to be found in Harry Potter than there ever is in Nancy Drew. And Ponyboy’s promise to “stay gold” can only inspire readers after they’ve witnessed how difficult it is for him to do so.

There is no doubt that there is good and bad YA fiction. In response to Gourdon’s article, many have called for a kind of “ratings system” that would alert parents to mature themes or objectionable material. The rationale is that if such a system is in place for video games or films, there should be one for literature. However, I think that this system would be profoundly unhelpful as a filter, and would in fact impede the reading experience. Gourdon bristles at being called a “f—ing gatekeeper,” retorting that she calls it “judgment,” “taste,” or “parenting.” All three of these things are good. Gates, even, are good. But none of these are substitutes for guidance, for actual reading, for actually determining quality. It’s downright silly to boil “appropriateness” down to a calculus of nudity and blood. Ratings systems are inherently ham-handed; they don’t account for good writing or good storytelling, and they have no idea what to do with “thematic material.” They would be very poorly-conceived gates.

And as someone who is on the uncertain cusp of young adulthood and adulthood, I would like to advocate for a certain level of inappropriateness. I was always a fairly avid reader; I’m not sure a single school year went by, from kindergarten through senior year, without my being lectured by a teacher for reading a novel under my desk. Reading at inappropriate times characterized my childhood, and reading at inappropriate ages did too. I found that I reacted in three ways to these “above grade-level” books. First, I would put it down, because my total incomprehension made for a very boring reading experience. Second, I would put it down, due to lesser grade of confusion, colored sometimes by shock. Third, I would keep on reading, and learn something valuable from it. Those jolts of discovery are part of reading. They’re part of growing up.

Moreover, I would argue that young people who pick up books with serious themes are young adults who want to be Serious, and they are generally preferable to people who exclusively read about sunshine, just as they are preferable to people who only listen to the Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift. (But that’s another beef for another time.) Kids who truly love to read never take kindly to being limited. Their natural inquisitiveness will lead them wherever it will.

That doesn’t mean that kids shouldn’t have any guidance at all. My reading tastes were and continue to be shaped by the recommendations of perceptive, intelligent, well-read adults. So I applaud Gourdon’s decision to provide a list of quality YA fiction. I would, however, argue with some of her selections. I did not care at all for Angelmonster, and thought Ophelia was extremely silly. (Also, why settle for these fanfictions when you can read the actual Frankenstein and Hamlet?)

More importantly, it puzzles and irritates me that Gourdon, or her editors, saw fit to segregate their list by gender. Their intentions are good, and come from a rational place. Objectively, and I’m sure statistically, there are some books that boys are unlikely to read, and some that girls are unlikely to pick up. But if you put aside the Twilights of this world, and examine the truly enduring, powerful, interesting young adult literature, it easily speaks to both genders. With statements like, “Girls will love this one, too” tacked onto the end of their recommendation of True Grit, they imply that girls won’t — or can’t — enjoy classics such as Fahrenheit 451, and that boys can’t learn anything from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. This is a mindset that I find depressingly narrow-minded, and it deeply, though subtly, undermines Gourdon’s argument.

In the end, after all, her problem is with the segregation in her thinking: not just between girls and boys, but also between children and adults. There’s no exact barrier between innocence and maturity — that’s where adolescence comes in, and where literature does as well.

Meaningful Leadership is a MUST

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Originally posted on May 14, 2011 by LiftOff Leadership

Meaningful Leadership

Leaders have a profound and powerful influence on the trajectory of our futures. The dominant leadership model that we have operated under for the past three decades is that financial success is the #1 determinant of overall success. This has resulted in a consumer driven, market dominated style of leadership that rewards growth and profits, at any cost.

This pervasive way of thinking…”more is better” is literally killing us and our environment. This consumer driven model has entrapped most of our population into running like crazy on a hamster wheel, trying to find the thing or things that will finally give them inner peace and happiness. And we have enough evidence, through our declining health, intellect, innovation, political wisdom and financial structures, to know that this model is a recipe for disaster, after disaster.

It is time to change the way that we define leadership success. The future of our communities and countries needs leaders who understand that the best measure of success is the quality of lives and livelihoods under their watch.

Leaders need to truly believe and operate by the tenant that true contribution is a measure of the purpose and meaning instilled into organizations and people through their leadership, their products and services. Numerical measures of success alone tell only a part of a larger responsibility to sustaining and benefiting humanity.

Betty Shotton

Follow Betty’s Blog on her website: LiftOff Leadership

Betty is also available for speaking engagements.

BEAUnhomie: BEA 2011

Friday, May 27th, 2011

In my interview for this internship, I’d said that I wanted to be introduced to the publishing world, and Beaufort delivered in style. My first full week at work featured a visit to BookExpo America (BEA), the largest annual book trade fair in the United States (thanks, Wikipedia!).

From the stodgiest academic houses to the hippest imports from San Francisco, publishers of all shades and stripes set up booths at the Javits Convention Center to showcase their current lists and upcoming titles. As a rising sophomore, I was faintly reminded of the extracurricular bazaar that I attended last August at school: the sheer size of the event was overwhelming, and before I got acclimated, I mostly wandered the rows in a daze of wonderment and overstimulation. But where upperclassmen leapt on any soul unfortunate enough to make eye contact, the publishing personnel were constantly bustling, meeting with colleagues, running signings, and negotiating rights. Most importantly for this college kid, they also kept the free stuff free-flowing: mostly books and totes to haul them around in, as well as promotional pens, posters and mousepads. The offerings ranged from the kid-friendly (feather boas! tiny cupcakes!) to the more adult (martinis the color of a Sandals pool!).

After meandering around the fair for awhile, it was a relief to return to home base, the Beaufort booth. We set up the displays, and I got to sit in on meetings and talk to our lovely authors in person. Their passion for their work, and for their audiences, is truly inspiring. However, our conversations couldn’t run too long, as they had interviews and signings to attend and I had visitors to talk to. Putting on my shiniest “don’t hurt me, I’m only trying to help!” smile, and trying not to blurt out “I’m only the intern!” when asked a question, I directed conference-goers to the booth, where we ran out of books within hours.

Though news from the publishing world, especially to an outsider, can sometimes seem a little gray, to this wide-eyed newcomer there are more than a few things to be heartened by:

1. the trend in indie publishing to rescue lesser-known works by literary greats, giving them re-entry into the literary conversation,

2. the generous floor-space reserved for the e-book and audiobook companies, who are working to take an old form to unprecedentedly large reading audiences,

3. the number of passionate readers in attendance,

4. the number of hopefuls who continue to bring fresh talent to the field, and finally,

5. Flavor-flav sightings (no really, he even brought his oldest son.) When you see him partying with the publishing world, you can’t help but feel that everything is going to be okay.

– Sophia

ps. When coming up with the cute name for this intern’s blog installments, I came upon this, with the rationale that if there’s anything people love more than puns, it’s reading puns in a language that the writer is unfamiliar with. I truly hope that I don’t upset any Francophiles. Yours is a beautiful language.

BEAUnanza Blog

Tuesday, May 17th, 2011

What makes a quality movie adaptation? Is it adherence to the original plot? A quality cast that look like the characters we imagined all along (except hotter and thinner)? Special effects? Perhaps a strong fan base like our old pal Harry Potter had? In my opinion it is a combination of these paired with a director and crew who are dangerously obsessed with the film. Maybe not dangerously, but nearly there.

A quick example of what I am talking about with this last stipulation is Stephen King’s The Shining. Stanley Kubrick, the sultan of cinema, loved the book, loved the characters, loved the setting, and most importantly, loved the story. Stan knew what it took to make a hit movie – stars, suspense, a concise plot with a twist or at most 3 – so he kept the book’s overall tone and changed a great deal of the book to fit his winning* structure, resulting in the epic masterpiece of horror that the film became. Unfortunately, because the novel was one of King’s first and therefore held a very dear place in his heart, these changes forced him to break his partnership with the Kubrick and denounce the film. But, that is another story for another post.

The movie adaptations on my mind are another of Stephen King’s books – this time with his blessing – The Dark Tower, and the prelude to the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit. These two are slated to be released within 6 months of each other, The Hobbit: Part I in late 2012, and The Gunslinger, the first in the Dark Tower series, in mid 2013.

Both have enormous fan bases with absurdly loyal fans. I do not mean to offend here as I proudly serve in the nerd army that marches in step with Frodo and the Gunslinger; however, we geeks are a tough sell. Many LOTR fans will never forgive Peter Jackson for his cuts in the 3 part series, while others will soon be buying their tickets to New Zealand to be made up as extras in Hobbiton. The same shall be true for Dark Tower fans, some of whom are already up in arms about the casting possibility of Javier Bardem as Roland Deschain, the saga’s anti-hero, because of the star-power that he will bring to the series. Some Dark Tower fans see this as a hindrance because audiences may relate him to his prior films, and long time fans want Roland to be remembered as naught but the grizzled Gunslinger. But, let’s be honest: my girlfriend had a crush on Elijah Wood way before LOTR came out and these days he is known to many as simply “Frodo”.

It is clear that Peter Jackson is, in fact, the world’s biggest nerd with the recent release of his on-set videos as filming of first installment of The Hobbit begins, but I do not know how I feel about Ron Howard taking the charge of the The Gunslinger adaptation. PJ was an unknown when he was chosen to take on LOTR, but Howard already has a good deal of fame and some fans worry he is unlikely to invest the balance of the rest his career on this mega-series – which will include TV series in between the films – the way Jackson did with the story of the one ring. Howard already has a wonderful reputation as a director and producer and will be laying all that success on the line with the undertaking of this mon(lob)strosity* of a project.

Stephen King’s series is worth its weight in fiction, with 7 books and nearly 4000 pages. However, it does not have the massive public following that JK Rowling did with Harry Potter. Even though King himself is the most famous living American author, his movie projects – with a few sterling exceptions – have been pretty flat. Will audiences be able to overlook adaptations like The Stand mini-series and be willing to give The Dark Tower a chance?

Also, will the film draw the budget it needs for success? Just this week there has been talk that Universal, NBC, and Howard’s Imagine Entertainment have started to get cold feet about the project as they debate how much it will take to make it a success. It took King 22 years to complete all 7 books, while the movies will be rushed along at the speed of Silicon Valley and needy nerds alike. And finally, what about the stories themselves? The Dark Tower has even more twists than The Shining did while The Hobbit is a largely linear story. However, both films will be packed with special effects and Hollywood goodness so which, story or effects, will be featured?

I will leave you with the wise words of Gabriel Deschain, mother of the Gunslinger, Roland: “Let be what will be, and hush, and let Ka* work.” This is one excited nerd signing off.

*It is my understanding that until the year 2011 is through Charlie Sheen must be featured in all types of media.

*Ka is as close to religion as Roland and his companions get in The Dark Tower. It is closely related to Karma.

*A lobstrosity is a sea monster that plays a small but important part in The Drawing of the Three, the 2^nd installment of the Dark Tower.

Jennifer Pharr Davis in National Parks Traveler

Tuesday, April 19th, 2011

Jennifer Pharr Davis Hoping To Thru-Hike Appalachian Trail In Record Time

Submitted by Kurt Repanshek on April 19, 2011 – 1:39am

Jennifer Pharr Davis, who already holds the women’s speed-record for a thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail, hopes to surpass the men’s record this summer. Courtesy photo.

Many hikers planning to walk the entire Appalachian National Scenic Trail are already on the iconic path, having started out from Springer Mountain, Georgia, with intentions of reaching northern Maine in August or September.

While those hikers will be at times slogging through spring storms and muddy trails, Jennifer Pharr Davis will be at home in North Carolina putting the finishing touches on her gear and physical fitness. She won’t be in a rush to hit the trail….until June, when she plans to hike from the trail’s northern terminus atop Mount Katahdin to Springer Mountain in as few as 47 days.

Ms. Davis already has hiked the 2,180-mile A.T. end-to-end twice, and holds the women’s speed record for thru-hiking the trail, having covered the distance in 57 days, 8 hours and 35 minutes back in 2008. Her first thru-hike in 2005 produced Becoming Odyssa, Epic Adventures on the Appalachian Trail, a book that laid bare much of her soul, at least the hiker within. This summer the book will be released in paperback form.

Many say hiking the A.T. end-to-end is a transformative experience, and for Ms. Davis her 2005 hike moved her from being a hiking neophyte to one who couldn’t get enough trail miles under her feet. Not only has she hiked the Pacific Crest Trail end-to-end, but also Vermont’s Long Trail, the Colorado Trail, up Mount Kilimanjaro in Kenya, and quite a few other trails.

Along the way not only has she grown as an individual and become as comfortable in the backcountry as if it were her living room, but she’s parlayed her experiences into a career as a motivational speaker, guidebook author, and coach for those looking to train for either long-distance hikes or long-distance runs.

Her desire to eclipse the men’s record for thru-hiking the A.T. brings up a few obvious questions, most revolving around whether her attempt has evolved from a desire to enjoy the backcountry of America’s oldest long-distance trail to an athletic competition. After all, to surpass the men’s record of 47 days, 13 hours and 31 minutes, she’ll have to average 47 miles a day, no small accomplishment.

“I think in our modern-day society we tend to shy away from things that are hard or challenging. Things that we might not succeed at scare us,” she replied when asked what’s motivating her to chase the record. “But I believe that by pushing our limits we are able to refine ourselves and learn about ourselves in a positive manner, despite the outcome. We can never accomplish anything excellent or new unless we are willing to try new things and test our boundaries.

“I love being in nature. I love hiking slowly or running as fast as I can. The A.T. is an especially precious place for me, because I had a life-changing thru-hike on the path in 2005. In 2008, I loved setting the women’s record with my husband’s support; and I feel blessed – like I have been given a gift – to be able to have a similar experience once again.”

Speed hiking, which requires one to rise before the sun and settle down for the night often long after it has set, can lead to blisters and sore muscles that never seem to get enough time to recover. While Ms. Davis’ upcoming attempt will be somewhat easier than what the typical thru-hiker encounters because she’ll have a support team — including her husband — to ferry her gear from hut to hut along the way, the sheer need to cover nearly 50 miles a day in a rugged landscape that’s almost always going up or down reaches deep into her core and ignites something within.

“I know that I love pushing my limits on the trail… as if the more I pour out the more that I am able to learn and absorb,” said Ms. Davis. “And by trying for a new, possibly better, record I will either: 1.) prove that there does not need to be a gap between the men’s and women’s record on the trail, 2.) improve on my previous time, 3.) finish the A.T. for a third time, or 4.) if nothing else – I will learn about myself and my limits while spending time on my favorite trail with my favorite person – my husband! All those scenarios sound good to me, and worthwhile!”

In her bid, Ms. Davis will have trail support from ultra-runner and former A.T. and Pacific Crest Trail speed-record-holder David Horton, as well as veteran A.T. expert Warren Doyle, as well as her husband, Brew Davis.

Asked whether speed-hiking the A.T. diminishes its significance as a foot path many spend months on, a landscape not to be dashed through, Ms. Davis said the approach is simply another way to enjoy the trail.

“Speed hiking is a different way to experience the trail. It is not better or worse than thru-hiking or section hiking. It is simply more concentrated,” she said. “The A.T. is way too thru-hike centric. The trail was never created to be hiked all at once, and even though that has become a popular use of the route, that doesn’t mean that it is the best or only way to enjoy the trail.

“I don’t feel that my record hike is in any way better or more noble than the mom who takes her kids out to day-hike different portions of the trail near their house, she went on. “The trail is there to meet you where you are at. The purpose is to make it accessible to everyone that travels by foot – but that includes trail runners, speed hikers, and record setters. As long as you are respecting the trail, others, and yourself then you have a right to be on the famous foot path.”

In the end, said Ms. Davis, the goal is not to tick off miles or chase a clock, but simply to take away something from the experience. How you decide to get that experience — thru-hiking, section hiking, or speed-hiking — in the end is largely irrelevant.

“The A.T. is there for every person, at every stage or life, and at every speed. After spending a day on the trail speed hiking I don’t lose any sleep at night for not appreciating the trail or enjoying the path in a ‘proper’ manner,” she said. “I love my time on the trail, and I always take something positive away from my time spent in the woods.”

By going after the men’s record, Ms. Davis hopes not only to learn a bit more about herself and to further cement her relationship with her husband — “I know that we will grow in trust, communication and teamwork. Those traits not only serve us well on the trail, but in our marriage as well.” — but to raise people’s awareness about the A.T. specifically and the outdoors in general.

“I hope to elevate awareness of the sport and the outdoors, and to get more people involved in sharing a similar passion,” she said.

*This post originally appeared on the National Parks Traveler website. Find it here!

Color Me Beautiful by Sasha Souza

Monday, March 7th, 2011

COLOR ME BEAUTIFUL

written by Sasha Souza

Celebrity wedding designer and color expert Sasha Souza shares her secrets for selecting the perfect wedding palette.

Most brides already have an idea of their wedding palette in mind before they even get engaged. That’s because color is so deeply rooted in who we are—our personality, our preferences, our individual essence. Which means that brides can and probably should decide on their wedding colors early on in their wedding planning process.

What colors we like and what colors we do not like can elicit a strong reaction in others (because, of course, they have their own deeply held color preferences). As a result, sharing your idea of your favorite colors can sometimes prove to be a source of conflict. For this reason, wedding colors are something that should be decided upon by the bride and groom without an excessive amount of input from others.

Choosing your wedding colors is a natural first step in creating the overall look and feeling of your wedding—a wedding that truly reflects who you and your fiancé are as individuals and as a couple. And by choosing your colors early, you will be setting the tone and the stage for everything that follows, including your gown, flowers, table linens, lighting, décor, invitations, even your cake.

Choose Your Hues

With so many colors to choose from, selecting a few specific hues can be an extremely daunting task. Let’s take red, for example. The first thing to realize is that there isn’t one single color red—there are thousands of shades of red, and every other color for that matter. If red is your favorite color, chances are that you are not looking to have a wedding full of primary red, but variations on the color that are either lighter or darker. Many red shades can be described easily by using food names: candy apple, strawberry, rhubarb, cherry. Perhaps you want to accent your preferred shade of red with the color green. If you tell somebody you’re having a red and green wedding, they will immediately think of Christmas. But if you tell them that your wedding will be lime and candy-apple red, it creates a completely different visual, and a different reaction in family member, friends and vendors with whom you discuss your event.

When choosing the colors you will use in your wedding, make sure to look around your home, your closet, your car. What are the prevailing colors you surround yourself with? Are most of your sweaters in shades of plum? Do you have a favorite azure-and-tangerine-toned pillow? Are your walls painted shades of burnt sienna with accents of eggshell? If so, you could use these cues as your inspiration to create your perfect wedding palette.

When Is White Right?

If you love white for your wedding simply because, well, you love white, then that is exactly the color you should have. If you are defaulting to white because you think it will be “just fine,” then it’s time to look at other colors that would make your wedding feel more like your wedding.

It’s rare to find a bride and groom who just don’t care what the colors of their wedding will be. Instead, many simply default to white because they don’t know how to mix the colors they love and blend them into one seamless event palette. It’s this fear of color that keeps some couples telling their event planner or catering director, “White will be just fine.” But is it “fine” or are you excited about it? That should be the key question you ask yourself before deciding to go with white linens, white wood folding chairs, white napkins neatly folded upon white china, and that bouquet of white flowers you hold in front of your white gown.

One way to keep some white in your wedding but still punch up the color is by choosing a colored table linen and accenting it with a white chair and white flowers with a bit of the linen color mixed in. This will make the white look brighter and the color pop instead of everything fading into each other. Another way you can do this is by substituting metallic tones such as silver or nickel for basic white, which adds a sophisticated and stylish dimension to your design, and a decidedly “special-occasion” feeling to your festivities.

Picture it: The combination of silver chiavari, ocean-blue tablecloth, cream centerpiece container and flowers in tones of cream, pearl and eggshell mixed with robin’s-egg blue accents, creates a rich and textured look that is so much more engaging than a simple white chair, white linen, and blue flowers in a glass container. You haven’t added more elements, you haven’t spent more money, you’ve just slightly altered your palette, and in the process taken your tablescape from ordinary to extraordinary.

Is It Trendy, Or Is It You?

Color trends tend to start with fashion (what you wear), and trickle down to home goods (how you decorate), until eventually they show up in weddings. In my own wedding design practice, the hottest recent color trend has been a blend of plum-and-peacock shades. Six to 12 months from now, it may be something else entirely.

There is no right or wrong answer to the question of whether you should follow a color trend, or go with the colors you love. Indeed, if you follow wedding blogs, pore over wedding publications, and devour wedding books with the passion of many of today’s brides, you’ll soon realize that there are so many color “trends” in any given season, some version of your favorite colors are likely to be represented in there somewhere.

In a nutshell, the colors you choose should speak to you and should make you feel excited. You should love looking at them in a look book or on a palette. If you can accomplish that early on as a first step in the vast array of wedding planning details, it will make every other step less stressful and more enjoyable for you and your vendors.

Sasha Souza is the owner of Sasha Souza Events (www.sashasouzaevents.com). She and her wedding design work have appeared on “The Early Show” (CBS), “Primetime” (ABC), “Inside Edition” and the Style Network’s “Whose Wedding is it Anyway?” Her newest book, “Signature Sasha: Magnificent Weddings by Design” (Beaufort Books, 2010) is available at amazon.com.

This article was published by Weddings in Houston Magazine.

Hide!!! is a Mom’s Choice Award Gold Recipient!

Monday, March 7th, 2011

The Mom’s Choice Awards® Names Hide!!! Among Best In Family-Friendly Products (or Services)

The Mom’s Choice Awards® has named Hide!!! among the best in family-friendly media, products and services.

The Mom’s Choice Awards® (MCA) is an awards program that recognizes authors, inventors, companies, parents and others for their efforts in creating quality family-friendly media, products and services. Parents, educators, librarians and retailers rely on MCA evaluations when selecting quality materials for children and families. The Mom’s Choice Awards® seal helps families and educators navigate the vast array of products and services and make informed decisions.

An esteemed panel of judges includes education, media and other experts as well as parents, children, librarians, performing artists, producers, medical and business professionals, authors, scientists and others. A sampling of our panel members includes: Dr. Twila C. Liggett, ten-time Emmy-winner, professor and founder of PBS’s Reading Rainbow; Julie Aigner-Clark, Creator of Baby Einstein and The Safe Side Project; Jodee Blanco, New York Times best-selling author, Priscilla Dunstan, creator of the Dunstan Baby Language; Patricia Rossi, host of NBC’s Manners Minute; Dr. Letitia S. Wright, D.C., host of the Wright Place™ TV Show; and Catherine Witcher, M.Ed., special needs expert and founder of Precision Education, Inc.

MCA judges are bound by a strict code of ethics which ensures expert and objective analysis free from any manufacturer association. The evaluation process uses a propriety methodology in which entries are scored on a number of elements including production quality, design, educational value, entertainment value, originality, appeal and cost.

To be considered for an award, each entrant submits five identical samples of a product. Entries are matched to judges in the MCA database. Judges perform a thorough analysis and submit a detailed assessment. Results are compiled and submitted to the MCA Executive Committee for final approval. The end result is a list of the best in family-friendly media, products and services that parents and educators can feel confident in using.

For more information on the awards program and the honorees, visit MomsChoiceAwards.com

BEAUcoup Books Lover- Memoirs on the Mind

Friday, February 18th, 2011

Memoirs have been on my mind in recent weeks. It seems like more and more are appearing on the shelves, and anyone who has spent a year or two on the Earth feels their story is publishable. I don’t mean for this to be a criticism of the industry, however, especially since I consistently enjoy reading memoirs myself, but I believe that only the truly insightful or incredibly talented types with lives that are exceptional should be granted the pages to tell their story. (I also think people like Justin Bieber should wait a few years. How much can be said when you’re pre-pubescent? The ghost-writer had to get creative there.)

One memoir open on my desk is Life by Keith Richards. This is exactly the kind of memoir I personally enjoy. The man has lived an insane life that I could never imagine, so it feels like you’re getting a glimpse into another world through his stories. He is also spectacularly unique, and his voice shines through in every word. Perhaps my favorite part of the memoir is his blunt and extremely matter-of-fact way of talking about his music. For instance, he claims to have written “Satisfaction” in his sleep. Literally. He woke up to find a cassette player with the melody. Yet while he obviously possesses a natural gift, he has worked hard every step of the way, studying the blues legends before him and still trying to get specific licks on the guitar down. He is a true artist, and one that every artistic mind or mind yearning to be artistic would benefit from reading.

Other memoirs of this genre I have enjoyed are Just Kids by Patti Smith, as well as the biography of Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven by Richard Cole. Both give a glimpse into a different era where the world was in upheaval, and the art world reflected it. It seems I was born in the wrong decade…

But enough of the rockers and onto a more elegant memoir. And Furthermore by Judi Dench was just officially released and now at the top of my To-Read list. This is another person who has certainly earned the right of publishing a memoir, working with some of the most distinguished writers, directors and actors the industry has to offer. According to reviews, Dench is warm-hearted and intimate, sharing personal anecdotes about everything from her roles as Lady Bracknell, Cleopatra and Sally Bowles to losing her husband to cancer. I am happy to hear that this is not the last we will see of Dame Judi Dench, who made a statement that this by no means indicates that she is close to retirement.

One last memoir that I recently read and can’t recommend enough is Beaufort’s own Becoming Odyssa by Jennifer Pharr Davis. Davis has also earned her stars, albeit at an exceptionally early age, by being the fastest woman to ever thru-hike the Appalachian Trail. In fact, she is attempting to beat the over-all record in the upcoming fall. But the book is like an honest, intimate adventure novel, following Davis’s first ever thru-hike directly out of college. She can’t throw big names around like the other memoirs I’ve discussed, but her sincerity and genuine charm make up for it. This is a book that is perfect for anyone who has ever struggled to find their place in life.

That’s all for now. Does anyone else have some exceptional memoirs to suggest?

Beaufort’s Own THE COMEBACK Gets a Positive Review in The Wall Street Journal

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

Catching Up, Getting Ahead

More free-trade agreements, lower corporate taxes, less government spending and more open immigration.

By ALAN MURRAY

When President Barack Obama talks about the competition to win the future, he avoids naming the opposing team. Not so Gary Shapiro, who begins “The Comeback” with a description of “my defining moment.” It’s July 2008; he is at a dinner in Qingdao, China, and a provincial Chinese official turns to him, points his thumb up in the air, and says: “China going up.” Then he turns his thumb down, moves his hand toward the floor and says: “U.S. going down.”

Another man might have observed that his dinner companion had downed one too many Maotais and left it at that. For Mr. Sharpiro, however, the exchange became an occasion for soul searching and led to the searing conclusion that the boorish official was right. “The truth hurts,” he says.

Mr. Shapiro is best known for his role as ringmaster at one of the globe’s largest gathering of geeks, gadget freaks and gear heads—the International Consumer Electronics Show, hosted in Las Vegas by the Consumer Electronics Association, which Mr. Shapiro heads. But in “The Comeback” he takes on another role. Like a losing coach on “Friday Night Lights,” he sets out to create a playbook for restoring the U.S. to economic pre-eminence, so that he might return to China a decade hence, find his Chinese nemesis, mention America’s economy and, as he puts it, “extend my thumb, pointing upward.”

Mr. Shapiro focuses on innovation, which he argues is the nation’s great competitive advantage, the source of American exceptionalism. It is easy to think of innovation as something that just happens, but it is in fact embedded in a social and political matrix. Innovation, Mr. Shapiro writes, “is the fortunate result of our nation’s rich and unique stew of individual liberty, constitutional democracy, limited government, free enterprise, social mobility, ethnic diversity, immigrant assimilation, intellectual freedom, property rights and the rule of law. I can’t deconstruct how each factor makes its individual contribution, but I believe each is vitally important.”

But policies need to make the most of such exceptional assets, Mr. Shapiro observes, and too often they don’t. In “The Comeback” he details the policies that, he believes, will allow innovation to flourish. His recipe is a familiar one but not yet familiar enough to engage the preoccupied minds of warring political parties in Washington.

Among other things, Mr. Shapiro champions immigration. What policy could possibly be more self-defeating, he asks, than to allow the world’s best and brightest to study at our world-class universities and then (as we do now) deny them work visas and force them to go home? A university degree should represent a path to American citizenship, Mr. Shapiro argues. He also argues for giving special immigration status to promising entrepreneurs.

As for free trade, a source of notable bipartisan agreement in the Clinton era, it seems to have lost some of its political clout, Mr. Shapiro notes. The U.S. has been a huge beneficiary of trade pacts—including the much-maligned North American Free Trade Agreement. But the free-trade agreement with Colombia, signed in 2006, keeps getting stalled in Congress, in part because of pressure from labor unions. Get over it, Mr. Shapiro says. Congress should pass the Colombia free-trade agreement and others with Panama and South Korea. He also calls for eliminating “Buy America” provisions from U.S. law, which shut out foreign certain goods and services especially when federal money is being spent.

Mr. Shapiro notes that the U.S. corporate tax rate, one of the highest in the world, stifles entrepreneurship and innovation. And rather than encouraging innovative global companies to make their home here, America’s high tax rate pushes them away.

Plenty of other aspects of American politics and policy annoy Mr. Shapiro. He thinks that it’s an outrage that the U.S. ranks near the bottom among developed nations in math and science education. He doesn’t say quite what we are supposed to do about such a failure. He is ambivalent about charter schools. But he does blame many of the problems in American education on “entrenched interest groups,” especially teachers unions. (And “I say that,” he adds, “despite the fact that my father was an active teachers union organizer and representative.”) Unions generally, Mr. Shapiro believes, discourage innovation. Keep them in check, he urges—and don’t pass the proposed card-check law that would take away secret ballots for union organizing.

Parts of the Shapiro recipe are debatable. It’s not clear to me that high schools are a suitable place for teaching more “business and entrepreneurialism,” as he advocates. His argument for easing U.S. patent protection is one-sided. And his suggestions for cutting government spending can be more vague than helpful: “Our government needs to triage its spending to those programs most important to our future, especially the future of our children.”

Mr. Shapiro also fails to grapple with the paradox that underlies his analysis of the U.S.-China dynamic: Why is it that less government is the right answer in the U.S. while government is a critical driver of China’s economic success? Perhaps he should make that the subject of his next book.

Mr. Murray is deputy managing editor of The Wall Street Journal and the author of “The Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Management.”

This article was originally published by The Wall Street Journal.