B165. Personal Inventory 2021

COVID

This was the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, which hit here in March 2020. This year could be partially defined as the year of the vaccinations. I got my two-part (Moderna) vaccination in March and April, and a booster in November. Because of vaccination availability, restaurants, churches, schools, entertainment venues, etc. have been slowly reopening, often to only half capacity for social distancing. It seems about half the population remains cautious, wearing masks in public, avoiding indoor crowds, having meetings via Zoom . . . Everyone seems to have their own level of comfort, a little different from everyone else's. I've stayed on the cautious side: streaming church on-line, visiting with friends and family almost exclusively outdoors . . . venturing out toward a little more normalcy the final few months of the year, most notably attending a Wicked production in Charlotte (masks mandated) and traveling to the beach and to Williamsburg.

CHURCH

While I have yet to attend a service in person since March 2020, I have remained active through on-line streaming and Zoom, and have attended 4-5 mostly small gatherings. In June I rotated off as Ruling Elder and Chair of the Worship Committee, and in May from the COVID Response Team (all meeting via Zoom to then).  I continue as a Stephen Ministry Leader (Zoom). Also via Zoom, my small group read Caste, and the Race Task Force hosted reading groups that read books by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jemar Tisby. I attended a couple of in-person Race Task Force events. And in February, also via Zoom, I taught the Everyman's Sunday School class one week.

HIGHLIGHTS

Besides a December trip to Williamsburg, November and December trips to the coast, and attending a Wicked production in Charlotte, I took several interesting hikes including Natural Bridge and a couple of nature preserves in and near Salisbury.

January to April I hosted the first "My Writing Circle" with ten participants via Zoom, writing mostly memoirs and meeting weekly for ten weeks to share our writings; then August to November, a second group of seven.

In May I began working on a book about my grandma's siblings and first cousins. The working title is Childress Cousins: A Collection of Stories, and it will hopefully be ready for publication in late 2022.

Leading to the November municipal elections, I campaigned in multiple ways (at the polls, in a caravan event, writing postcards, wearing t-shirts, posting on Facebook . . .) for Mayoral candidate Heggins and City Council candidates Sheffield and Smith.

In November I spoke at James Madison University (in person and masked). In December I completed several months' work on my end of life and estate planning documents. I continued tutoring through the Literacy Council (mostly on Zoom), and greeted/ushered a few times at Lee St. Theatre. My normal winding down activities continue to be puzzles and word games: Words With Friends app, Puzzle Page app, and a couple of jigsaw puzzles.

BLOG POSTS

B162. Tobacco Barn Memories

B163. Displaced Anger at Jeff Bezos?

B164. Fundies and Liberals: A Seminary Lesson

HEALTH

Aside from COVID vaccines and boosters: I continue getting botox shots in my neck every 4 months for torticollis. I enjoy OMT treatments about monthly.  In August I had an ingrown toenail cut out. I had a breast biopsy in July which came out benign but was wrongly coded to start an insurance struggle that still hasn't ended.

I have exercised, mostly walked, an average of 30 minutes a day. I often wear a leg brace when I go walking, to help control my foot drop. My weight has stayed between 115-120 with the on and off help of the My Fitness Pal app.

TECHNOLOGY

No major technology changes for me this year. I continue to use my HP laptop and my 6s iPhone which is getting a little tired in this iPhone 13 age. I use my Canon camera when I want a closer clearer zoom than my phone gives. I have a paid Zoom account (not related to the camera zoom) and a rarely used Hulu account.

BOOKS

I've read and/or listened to 60 books this year, listed here in order of their publication year:

New Testament (audio, repeat)

A Doll’s House (Henrik Ibsen, 1879, audio, repeat)

On the Banks of Plum Creek (Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1937, audio) 4th in Little House series

Their Eyes Were Watching God (Zora Neale Hurston, 1937, audio) Afr Amer novel

By the Shores of Silver Lake (Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1939, audio) 5th in Little House series

The Long Winter (Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1940, audio) 6th in Little House series

Little Town on the Prairie (Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1941, audio) 7th in Little House series

These Happy Golden Years (Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1943, audio) 8th in Little House series

The Phantom Tollbooth (1961, Norton Juster, audio) youth fantasy novel

Return to Sender (Julia Alvarez, 1969, audio, repeat) novel, migrant farmworkers

The Man Who Moved a Mountain (Richard C. Davids, 1970, repeat) Bob Childress bio

The First Four Years (Laura Ingalls Wilder, 1971, audio) 9th in Little House series

A Song Flung to Heaven (Maya Angelou, 2002) autobiography

The Meaning of Matthew (Judy Shepard, 2009, audio) by Matthew Shepard's mom

If There’s Anything I Can Do (Josephine Hicks, 2011) how to be there for friends in crisis

Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend (Matthew Dicks, 2012, audio) novel; Asperger

The Chaperone (Laura Moriarty, 2012, audio) novel set in early 20th century

The Twelve Tribes of Hattie (Ayana Mathis, 2021, audio) novel, Hattie's children

The House Girl (Tara Conklin, 2013, audio) slave woman & modern lawyer; fiction

Papadaddy’s Book for New Fathers (Clyde Edgerton, 2013, audio) lighthearted child psychology

We Were Liars (E. Lockhart, 2014, audio) young adult novel

Between the World and Me (Ta-Nehisi Coates, 2015) African American man's letter to his son

Ghost (Jason Reynolds, 2016, audio) youth fiction at its best

Homegoing (Yaa Gyasi, 2016, audio) one family from pre-slavery Africa to present, fiction

My Own Words (Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 2016, audio) autobio, court history

Long Way Down (Jason Reynolds, 2017) elevator ride on the way to avenge

The Alice Network (Kate Quinn, 2017, audio) historical fiction, WWi & WWII espionage

A Book that Takes Its Time (Irene Smit, 2017) mindfulness readings & activities

Hallelujah Anyway (Anne Lamont, 2017, audio) nonfiction

We Were the Lucky Ones (Georgia Hunter, 2017, audio) Jewish family WWII

Clock Dance (Anne Tyler, 2018, audio) novel; superficial existence

Ghost Boys (Jewell Parker Rhoades, 2018, audio) juvenile fiction, race & death

The Beagle and His Boy (Cathy Cook, 2018, repeat) autobiography, grief

Black Is the Body (Emily Bernard, 2019, audio) autobiography

This Tender Land (William Kent Krueger, 2019, audio) historical fiction, 1930s

The Color of Compromise (Jemar Tisby, 2019) racism & Amer church, nonfiction

Southern Lady Code (Helen Ellis, 2019, audio) humorous essays on life

Inside Out (Demi Moore, 2019, audio) autobio - relationships, substance abuse

One Life (Megan Rapinoe, 2020, audio) autobiography

The Truths We Hold (Kamala Harris, 2020) autobiography

Dolly Parton, Songteller (D. Parton & RK Oermann, 2020, audio) autobio

Caste (Isabel Wilkerson, 2020, repeat) systemic racism in America

The Book of Lost Friends (Lisa Wingate, 2020, audio) historical fiction, slavery to now

Me and White Supremacy (Layla F. Saad, 2020, audio) good for group discussion

Catoctin SlaveSpeak (Elayne Bond Hyman, 2020) poems giving voice to Catoctin slaves

The Making of Biblical Womanhood (Beth A Barr, 2020, audio) misogyny

Jesus and John Wayne (Kristen Kobes Du Mez, 2020, audio) evangelicalism, patriarchy, politics, nonfic

The Devil You Know (Charles M. Blow, 2021, audio) manifesto for backwards migration

By His Scars (Sharon Worrell Beshears, 2021) human scars and God's healing

The Four Winds (Kristin Hannah, 2021, audio) novel set in Dust Bowl

Under the Southern Sky (Kristy Woodson Harvey, 2021, audio) romance novel 

On Juneteenth (Annette Gordon-Reed, 2021, audio) Texas black history we missed in school

White Evangelical Racism (Anthea Butler, 2021, audio) nonfiction

Broken Horses (Brandi Carlile, 2021, audio) Brandi Carlile memoir

The Rose Code (Kate Quinn, 2021, audio) historical fiction, 3 women, WWII code breakers

Think Again (Adam Grant, 2021, audio) changing how we think, nonfiction

All In (Billie Jean King, 2021, audio) autobiography: tennis, women’s sports, human rights

The Personal Librarian (VC Murray & M Benedict, 2021, audio) historical, she passed for white

Everything Is Possible with God (Donna Fargo, 2021) inspirational poems

Dusk, Night, Dawn (Anne Lamont 2021, audio) nonfiction, lighthearted look at life's dark moments

bold = recommended; red = highly recommended

MOVIES

25, listed in order of release year:

The Wizard of Oz (1939, repeat) classic

White Christmas (1954, repeat) WWII feel good musical

The Pajama Game (1957) Doris Day musical

Imitation of Life (1959) drama, romance, race, motherhood

Young Frankenstein (1974) Mel Brooks comedy

Battle for the Minds (1997, PBS, twice) documentary about SBC fundamentalist takeover

Frida (2002, repeat) Frida Kahlo & Diego Rivera

Frankie & Alice (2010) multiple personalities, Halle Berry

Battle of the Sexes (2017, repeat) Billie Jean King bio

The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society (2018) post WWII

Love, Simon (2018, Hulu) high school coming out romantic comedy

Judy (2019) Judy Garland biography

Vita & Virginia (2019, repeat) Virginia Woolf’s writing of Orlando

The Best of Enemies (2019) based on true NC story, civil rights

To the Stars (2019) high school drama set in 1960s Oklahoma

The World To Come (2020, Hulu) drama of 1800s forbidden love

Ammonite (2020, BBC) forbidden romance set in 1840s England

The Christmas Edition (2020) feel-good movie of a newspaper journalist

Happiest Season (2020, Hulu) holiday romantic comedy

Joe Bell (2021, Prime) so powerful but so sad; bullying

Nomadland (2021) community of van dwellers

The United States vs. Billie Holiday (2021) biography

Mayor Pete (2021, Prime) documentary about Pete Buttigieg

Jesus Music (2021, Prime) music history

Being the Ricardos (2021, Prime) Lucille Ball & Desi Arnaz

bold = recommended; red = highly recommended

TV

I watch little TV. What little I watch I mostly stream on Hulu or Youtube. Listed in order of what year it was first aired, this year I watched:

Room 222 Season 1 (1969-70) sit-com featuring teachers in a high school

Family Seasons 1-5 (1976-1980) drama series

Wicked  recorded Broadway version (twice)

Amazing Grace (2018) making of Aretha Franklin’s gospel album

The Chosen Seasons 1-2 (2019, 2021) story of Jesus’ life & ministry

The Crown  Season 4 (2020) bio Queen Elizabeth II

The Queen’s Gambit  (Miniseries, 2020) chess, addiction

Call Me Kat Season 1 (2020-21) Mayim Bailik sitcom

Genius: Aretha (miniseries, 2021) Aretha Franklin

bold = recommended; red = highly recommended

LOOKING AHEAD TO 2022

I hope to publish the Childress Cousins book by the end of the year.

I plan to continue leading My Writing Circle groups as long as there is interest.

I haven't worked out at the gym since March 2020 and hope to start back soon.

I look forward to feeling comfortable enough to return to church soon.

Photos:

2. drive-thru COVID vaccine

3. Colonial Williamsburg

4. Busch Gardens, Williamsburg

5. Carolina coast

6. Wicked

7. campaigning