Happy Birthday, America

 To celebrate America's 250th birthday, I am posting this video.

Special Olympics sports have been our world for several years now. We started with Young Athletes, then swimming, soccer, tennis, floor ball, and basketball. Participating in these activities has had profound impact for Bun Bun. None of the poor child's parents are very athletic, and we don't have a lot of expectations (no next Venus Williams or Katie Ledecky here). It's nice to interact with other athletes and parents, not to mention the most patient coaches and helpers.

2025 Books

Books read in all of 2025

*Inside Out and Back Again, Thanhha Lai

Be Ready When the Luck Happens, Ina Garten

*Salt to the Sea, Ruta Sepetys

Daughters of Shandong, Eve J. Chung

The Lotus Shoes, Jane Yang

*Alone, Megan E Freeman

Til the End of June, Cris Beam

Yellowface, RF Kuang

*Beyond the Bright Sea, Lauren Wolk

A Shot to Save the World, Gregory Zuckerman

*Stuck, Jennifer Swender

Challenger, Adam Higginbotham

The Whole Brain Child, Daniel Siegel and Tina Payne Bryson 

Wisdom from Adoptive Families, Kris Kittle and Kelly Reed

*Escape from the Isle of the Lost, Melissa de la Cruz

James, Percival Everett’s

Anne of Green Gables, Graphic Novel, Mariah Marsden & Brenna Thummlee

*Anne of Green Gables, LM Montgomery

Young Adult Playbook, Anna Moreland and Thomas Smith

Everything is Tuberculosis, John Green

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain 

*Mustaches for Maddie, Chad Morris and Shelly Brown

18 Tiny Deaths, Bruce Goldfarb

Dr Mütter’s Marvels, Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz

*Insignificant Event in the Life of a Cactus, Dusti Bowling

The Framed Women of Ardemore House, Brandy Schillace

Drunk Flies and Stoned Dolphins, One Pagan

Made in Asian America, Erika Lee and Christina Soontornvat

*Out of My Dreams, Sharon Draper

The Woman Who Could Not Forget, Ying Ying Chang

107 Days, Kamala Harris 

*The Book Thief, Markus Zusak 

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma, Bessel van der Kolk

Between Shades of Gray, Ruta Sepetys

* Read with Bun Bun.

March 2026

I'm a bit behind here, but want to share this article for two reasons.

https://helenjournal.org/march-2026/unsung-hero-marthe-gautier

March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day in recognition of three copies of the 21st chromosome (Trisomy 21), discovered by Dr. Marthe Gautier.

March is also Women's History month, celebrating women and various contributions they made in history. In April, 2022, Dr. Gautier died and was remembered in a NYT article. She was the physician who identified the extra 21st chromosome as the cause of Down Syndrome. Like many women in history who are overshadowed by men, Dr. Gautier's work was credited to her male colleague, Jerome Lejeune.

Shoe laces

 After working really hard all summer, guess who now is able to tie their own shoe laces?

Promotion & New(er) wheels

Starting my 20th year of teaching this semester, I still love my job. Even though I've been teaching the same set of courses, the new cohorts of students always keep things fresh. There's always new things for me to learn, too. So, it was all the more meaningful to start this year as a full professor. My promotion was approved and granted after spending all of last summer writing and building my case.

To start the new school year, I replaced my 18-year old car. I really loved the old car, hoped to keep it for at least 20 years, and hated to let it go. It was starting to get really needy and cranky, especially when the weather changed. Deciding between a hybrid and a fully electric car, I chose the Volvo C40 Recharge (fully electric). No more gasoline, oil changes, emissions tests, and rusty belts... Nice to have a car built in this decade.

 2007 S60

 2023 C40

As for other family updates: Bun Bun started the new school year as a high school freshman. With the exception of her school bus breaking down on the way home, I think it went well. 

We had a pretty nice summer. As soon as school let out, we drove to Charlotte to visit family. We stopped in Monterey, VA, away from light pollution, for some star gazing. This summer, we visited 2 caves, rode some roller coasters, caught 5 ground hogs, saw baby orangutan & tortoises, and ate too much donuts & water ice. Last week, Bun Bun and Daddy went to the Disney Descendants Zombies Worlds Collide Tour to round out the summer fun.

10 years

 

More books

I accomplished my goal of reading 24 books this year and read a 25th one just to celebrate the accomplishment. Bun and I read 8 (*) together, some were for school and others with the ARC, Include Me's Disability Acceptance Through Literature book studies. After signing up for the book study, ARC sends us the book and, we all meet virtually once a week to talk about it. It's been fun.

My favorite books on this list have been authored by Black women: Angela Tucker, Uche Blackstock, Sharon Draper, and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Their discussions on racial disparities in America are really eye-opening.

Bun Bun's required reading for school have WWII themes - Echo and Code Talker. I've been reading some other fictions and non-fictions works and watching war movies and TV shows set in those time periods.

American Prometheus, Kai Bird, Martin J. Sherwin

*Song for a Whale, Lynne Kelly

How High We Go in the Dark, Sequoia Nagamatsu

Democracy Awakening, Heather Cox Richardson

Killers of the Flower Moon, David Grann

Lessons from Plants, Beronda Montgomery (corn, beans, squash)

The Worlds I See, Fei Fei Li

*Good Different, Meg Eden Kuyatt

*Unfriended, Rachel Vail

You Should Be Grateful, Angela Tucker

Legacy, Uche Blackstock

Class, Stephanie Land

*A Blind Guide to Stinkville, Beth Vrabel

Tell Me When It’s Over, Paul Offit

Uncommon Types: Some Stories, Tom Hanks

*Echo, Pam Munoz Ryan

The Boy with the Striped Pajamas, John Boyne 

*Code Talker, Joseph Bruchac

*Blended, Sharon Draper

On Call, Anthony Fauci

All the Broken Places, John Boyne 

*Better with Butter, Victoria Piontek

Lovely One, Ketanji Brown Jackson

The Sirens of Mars, Sarah Stewart Johnson

Making a Scene, Constance Wu

Happy New Year, Readers!

Books

Last year, I was able to read 21 books.

How to Raise an Adult, Julie Lythcott-Haims

Spare, Prince Harry

All Creatures Great and Small, James Herriot

If I Survive You, Jonathan Escoffery

All Things Bright and Beautiful, James Herriot

All Things Wise and Wonderful, James Herriot

Out of My Heart*, Sharon Draper

Poverty, by America, Matthew Desmond

American Born Chinese, Gene Luen Yang

Sink, Joseph Earl Thomas 

Song of the Cell, Siddhartha Mukherjee

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon*, Grace Lin

Year off the Tiger, Alice Wong

It Wasn’t Me*, Dana Alison Levy

Chasing My Cure, David Fajgenbaum

Born a Crime, Trevor Noah

I Know Who You Are, Barbara Rae-Venter 

Ghost*, Jason Reynolds

Get a Grip, Vivy Cohen*, Sarah Kapit

The Conversation, Robert Livingston 

Eve, Cat Bohannon

Bun Bun and I read a few of them together either for school or for her virtual book club (*). I really like reading the James Herriot series and think I would have became a vet if I had read them when I was in high school. The memoirs by Prince Harry, Joseph Earl Thomas, David Fajgenbaum, and Trevor Noah were really fascinating. I think my favorite was "I Know Who You Are" about using genetic ancestry tests to solve crimes.

Goal this year is to read at least one more than last.

It's been a while

 

Quick updates:

Bun Bun is in the 7th grade, in the middle school. She still loves to read and obsesses over really cute babies.

We had our first snow (~5 inches) in over 2 years. The backyard has enough of a slope for some sledding. We had to take down a bunch of large trees which opens up the yard a lot more. If you're wondering, those trees were infested by emerald green borers. These beetles lay eggs into the tree bark which the larvae eat as they crawl their way out. Over time, the tree slowly dies. As those sick trees were removed, we started planting new one, hence the wiring cage you see.

Summer

If Bun Bun was a cartoon character...

X marks the spot and Bun Bun's 10th year.

Savoring the summer at Longwood Gardens