Worth a Read Too

Photo by cottonbro from Pexels INTRODUCTION Have you been to a book club? In my experience, this is what they’re like.   There’s a selected chapter weekly or a book monthly. Then you meet to either analyze it or answer designated questions.   Sound normal to you?   The last one I attended (virtually because of COVID, of course) was for The Abundance Project: 40 Days to More Wealth, Health, Love, and Happiness , by Derek Rydall. I will admit that calling it a book club doesn't do it justice because we did more than just read, analyze, and answer questions.   Turns out, it was a book transformational study.   My friend Sandy Munroe made sure we took Rydall’s challenges to heart with her group. Then we described our experiences, providing support for one another and piggybacking off each other’s observations. In addition, we concluded with a meditation to bring that chapter’s lessons to a close.   It was heartening to watch the growth with my group members by the end, including myse

Posted with Permission Selys Rivera (SR): Today is July 19, 2020. It’s 4:11 pm EST. I’m here with Abigail Peabody. Abby, do I have your permission to record this interview and use it for my business, Worth a Read Too?   Abigail Peabody (AP): Yes.   SR: Awesome! Okay, so to start, can you tell me what your official title is and kind of what that entails, like your responsibilities?   AP: Yeah, so I am Ms. Maine USA Ambassador for the USA Ambassador system, which is a national system whose charitable beneficiary is Big Brothers Big Sisters of America.   SR: Oh!   AP: My responsibility – yeah! My responsibility as Ms. Maine is to represent the state in the Ms. Category, which is 26 years of age and up. I like to represent my state by getting out and doing a lot of community service and servicing the community I live in and the state in general. So, I participate in a lot of charity events and volunteering. So, that’s kind of how I like to represent the state for this pageant system.   SR:

Photo by Ricardo Esquivel from Pexels Today was the first day I went back to my church’s temple as part of the worship team since the coronavirus pandemic started. Like many others, I’ve been attending service virtually for months out of concern over COVID-19’s contagion rate. If I’m being honest, at times, my concern turned paranoid.   While I would’ve preferred to stay online, I knew my church needed their drummer back. That’s why I was glad to see that my church is taking serious precautions due to the pandemic. There’s hand sanitizer and masks available at the entrance to the temple. Everyone’s required to wear a mask except for the singers, but even then, only when they’re at their respective microphones. Plus, not only are they 6 feet apart from each other, but they face away from one another as well.   In addition, the only people allowed in the temple in the first place are those working either as part of, or with, the worship team. The rest of the congregation joins virtually

As a first-generation Black American, I’ve always had a strange relationship with this country. Neither one of my parents were born here - my mother was born and raised in Jamaica, and my father, the Bahamas - and yet they chose to come here, of all the places in the world. I would not exist if it was not for America, and I grew up hearing about how great this country was. A wonderful melting pot for folks of all races, colors, and creeds. My time in the Boy Scouts of America only increased my sense of patriotism. By the time I achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, I was fully Americanized, with no hint of an island accent and a great love for my home country. As I studied history, my relationship with this country became complicated, and the more I learned about what had been omitted in my high school history lessons, the more I grew conflicted, disgusted, and appalled. Not only at America’s actions across the world as an imperial hegemonic power, but in particular, at the country’s treat