Of Students, Offspring, Frustrated Ted Talkers, Amish Bonnet Rippers and My October

[mallorys_camera]

Khadija turns out to be pretty remarkable.

Came to this country at the age of 20 without a word of English. Taught herself English by watching cartoons. Never went to school at all in Morocco, so she doesn’t speak French and cannot read Arabic. Has four children. Supports the family—there was some kind of complicated explanation of why her husband cannot work. She was an assembler at the local IBM plant until IBM finally pulled up stakes, and now she wants to be a nurse’s aide because (she tells me) she cares about people.

And that might actually be true since nurse’s aides hereabouts only make about $12 an hour.

With all of this, she’s really upbeat and positive.

She taught herself to read English! Though it’s obviously a chore for her. What she stumbles over is the medical terminology and the scientific vocabulary and the 50 different English synonyms for every simple word that textbook writing insists on packing into paragraphs.

Anyway, very quick mind, so teaching her should be a cinch. All I have to do is keep two days ahead of what she’ll be studying in class and go over basic medical terminology and physiology. To that end, I’ll be working with her two days a week.



Else? Robin who is just terrible about keeping in touch with me on any kind of a regular basis began texting me in the middle of the night about how much he misses his father. Oh, and me too just in case my feelings were inclined to get hurt.

I slept through it.

So, now I’m grappling with (1) worry about Robin, and (2) feelings about what a terrible mother I am.

I’ve had the most miserable string of ghostwriting assignments from a client who wants to become a Ted Talk expert on AI in the business sector. The research is really depressing. If you’re like most people in the U.S., chances are you spend more time interacting with bots than you do with your wife.

Plus I watched Witness. How many times have I watched Witness? Oh, at least a dozen. Witness is simply the most romantic movie ever made! Oh, to be an Amish widow smoldering in a youthful, buff Harrison Ford’s arms. ::::SWOON::::

Then I discovered that Amish romance novels are apparently a multimillion-dollar industry!

Who knew?

They call them “bonnet rippers” not “bodice rippers” ‘cause, you know—Bodices! Not plain!—and there’s no sex in them whatsoever although occasionally, a rebellious wisp of hair may escape from a head covering, or a man and a woman may sit scandalously close on a porch swing.

Here’s my One-Second-a-Day mashup for October:

"1SE My Timeline 20191031 091225" (Watch on YouTube)