I can relate! And so can you! 
The memoir is mostly about her grandmother’s mental illness due to her trauma during the dark years of 1950s CCP China, and how that rippled out to damage the emotionally stunted life of her mother, who handed down her own trauma to the grand-daughter (Tessa Hulls), thus infecting three generations, and is pretty depressing. But that passage was a welcome breather of levity.
Elmore Leonard was the Grand Master of Dialogue, but this may be my favorite short snippet of conversation yet.
2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America
Apology up front for dragging sordid American politics into this pristine space (ahem), but I may have to buy this book on its release on July 8. Based on the WaPo excerpt below, it appears borderline irresistible.
A blurb from the WaPo article linked below. It’s pretty
Joe Biden woke up at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, the site of his political last stand as he tried to save his presidency. In the afternoon, he had a Zoom meeting with the nearly 100-member Congressional Progressive Caucus, which represented the most left-wing members of Congress.
The meeting began cordially, with Biden emphasizing that he wanted the group’s support on a new initiative for Supreme Court reform. But as lawmakers started to push the president and raised some concerns about his campaign, he quickly became defensive.
Some lawmakers said voters had never heard about the administration’s accomplishments. Biden said lawmakers should do a better job of communicating about and campaigning on his progressive victories. Representative Delia Ramirez of Illinois asked the president about the ongoing Israeli bombardment of Gaza, pointing out that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not seem to be listening to him.
The president took umbrage at the criticism. He said Netanyahu hoped Trump would be reelected and was an impediment to any ceasefire deal. He asked Ramirez what she thought he should do, and she said she had a few suggestions. He told her to send him an email. How does one email the president of the United States? Ramirez thought. Should I email dearmrpresident@gmail.com?
At one point in the meeting, an aide passed the president a note, which he read out loud: “Stay positive,” he read. “You are sounding defensive.”
Yes and few still around for older men in older neighborhoods. Barbershop style.
Still available in massage places that cater for such.
