This summer, reading has been a primary activity. This month I branched out with some targeted political action.
BEACH READING
The Ambassador’s Wife by Jennifer Steil
Free spirited artist Miranda meets and marries Finn, an upstanding, conventional British career diplomat, and becomes an ambassador’s wife in a fictional Middle Eastern Muslim country. Adjusting to the constraints of life in a walled compound, she, nonetheless, continues to teach painting to a group of local women. When Miranda and two French women are kidnapped while hiking, the stakes are high as the authorities race to locate them. Published in 2015, The Ambassador’s Wife is a gripping novel which I raced to finish–almost in one sitting.
Ms. Steil is a journalist who worked in Yemen for a number of years. She’s also married to a British diplomat and so has personal experiences as an ambassador’s wife. Currently she lives in Uzbekistan and has just published her second novel, Exile Music, set in Bolivia beginning in 1938.
POLITICAL ACTION
With Covid-19 still limiting social activities and outings for many, you too might have some free time. If you’re concerned about how this fall’s national elections will turn out, you may want to donate time as well as dollars. Through a good San Francisco friend of mine, I’ve begun joining her and others in a weekly postcard writing effort. It’s under the umbrella of Swing Left which has chapters and events in many states.
I’ve committed to handwriting 20 postcards each week. Last week, Marcia’s scattered group of volunteers wrote to individuals in Des Moines, Iowa, urging them to vote for Theresa Greenfield, the Democratic senatorial candidate in a tight race. Before that, the focus was on Durham, North Carolina, and encouraging folks to pledge online to vote in November. This week, we’re sending cards to Denver, Colorado, with a message about electing John Hickenlooper to the Senate to ensure good judges in the courtroom. Scripts and addresses are provided, and it takes an hour or two each week. There is so much is at stake in 2020, I feel it’s well worth the effort!
Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).
