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.