Excerpts: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Amazon

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot:

I was stunned. The woman I’d been lying next to for days -- laughing, elbowing, consoling -- was now running from me like I was out to get her. "Deborah!" I called after her. "I’m not trying to do anything bad. I just want to learn your mother’s story, same as you." She whipped around, her eyes still panicked, "I don’t know who to trust," she hissed, then ran out the door, slamming it behind her."

After the jump, my review and more excerpts.

Excerpts: The Emperor of All Maladies

Amazon

From "The Emperor of All Maladies," by Siddhartha Mukherjee:

She imagined and concocted various causes to explain her symptoms - overwork, depression, dyspepsia, neuroses, insomnia. But in the end, something visceral arose inside her - a seventh sense - that told Carla something acute and catastrophic was brewing within her body."

After the jump, my review and more excerpts.

Spring in the Steger Garden (2011)

From Flowers

More photos after the jump.

The Future of Richardson Is In Beijing

Wikipedia

"You may be right,
I may be crazy.
But it just may be the lunacy
Richardson is looking for."
-- With apologies to Billy Joel.

I have seen the future of Richardson and it is in Beijing. Bear with me. After the jump, come with me to Beijing for a few minutes.

Richardson Idol: Week One

A new season of Richardson Idol premiered last night from Mohawk Elementary School, hosted by the JJ Pearce HOA. This season there are thirteen fresh contestants vying for the grand prize, a seat on the Richardson City Council. As the format requires, it is up to the audience (and by audience, I mean me) to eliminate one contestant each week until we have a council.

But before we hear who will be eliminated this week, let's first hand out superlatives ... after the jump.

Mazel Tov: An Eruv Comes to Plano

How many people in Plano even know what an eruv is? How many people in Dallas know what one is, even though Dallasites have been living with two eruvin, maybe even living inside one themselves, for years?

After the jump, the curious new incident of the dog in the night-time.

First Impressions of the Candidates

The May 14 Richardson City Council election has 14 candidates for 7 seats. That's a lot of candidates to learn about. So, let's get started. Here are my first impressions of the candidates. I know that first impressions are often wrong. But they can be hard to shake, so it's best that the candidates be aware of the crazy ideas about them that are out there. Let's just say this is a public service to help candidates shape their campaign message to overcome false impressions. That's it -- a public service.

After the jump, let's get busy with first impressions.