Sum It Up by Pat Summitt

Pat Summitt: Amazing Coach
Remarkable Woman

Thanks goes to Lisa Hailey for recommending this memoire.

I was not familiar with Pat Summitt. I don't watch NBA basketball, nor do I watch college ball. Truth be known, I don't really know the difference between a basketball and a beachball. So coming to this book, I was entirely unfamiliar with the notoriety of this woman and her incredible dominance in the field of women's college basketball.


Here's a summary thanks to GoodReads.com:

Pat Summitt was only 21 when she became head coach of the Tennessee Vols women's basketball team. For 38 years, she has broken records, winning more games than any NCAA team in basketball history. She has coached an undefeated season, co-captained the first women's Olympic team, was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, and has been named Sports Illustrated 'Sportswoman of the Year'. 

She owes her coaching success to her personal struggles and triumphs. She learned to be tough from her strict, demanding father. Motherhood taught her to balance that rigidity with communication and kindness. She is a role model for the many women she's coached; 74 of her players have become coaches. 

Pat's life took a shocking turn in 2011, when she was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease, an irreversible brain condition that affects 5 million Americans. Despite her devastating diagnosis, she led the Vols to win their sixteenth SEC championship in March 2012. Pat continues to be a fighter, facing this new challenge the way she's faced every other--with hard work, perseverance, and a sense of humor. 

Her accomplishments are too many to list, but here are a few highlights;

Pat Summitt is the most winning coach in the history of NCAA Division 1 college basketball, boasting 1098 victories from 1974 until 2012. Olympic Gold Medalist in 1976 games. Eight-time NCAA Championships, Seven-time NCAA Coach of the Year,  Named the Naismith Basketball Coach of the Century, Awarded the 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama, and the Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

Pat Summitt is a gritty, uncompromising coach. She admits that she would push her athletes beyond their personal limitations and bring out new levels of performance--the true role of a coach. She described how she would brake the individual players down, then rebuilt them to be better team players and stronger athletes. From the players perspectives (that pepper the memoire), in coaching them on the court, Pat Summitt taught them life skills, and help the players to do better in so many aspects of their lives. A true testament to Summitt's contribution to each player: 100% of her players graduated from University of Tennessee and 78 of her players went on to become teachers and coaches.

The autobiography itself was co-authored with Sally Jenkins, and is well written. Summitt admits that she has difficulty remembering day to day details, as a result of her suffering from early onset Alzheimer's which was diagnosed in 2011. However, she says that she remembers all of the people that have played a role in her life as a coach, and her memoire demonstrates this.

As a critique of the work, I would say that it's heavily laden with a litany of people and players, and because I don't know anyone from the sport, I found the endless list of people hard to track and somewhat confusing. With player turn over every year, I lost track of most of the players. Maybe if I was more familiar with the stars of NCAA, I would have tracked them more easily.

I would have liked more personal details on Pat's ongoing relationship with her family members, but perhaps this was covered in her previous work.

I commend the University of Tennessee for supporting and accommodating Summitt despite her health condition, and I wish that more employers were so generous to those employees who have been loyal contributors before diagnoses. Perhaps their treatment of Summitt and their willingness to provide ongoing support will serve as a bench mark for other institutions and private companies.

The most beautiful passage of the book was its final 3 lines.  Regardless of whether you believe in God, these words are beautiful. I wish Pat Summitt peace in her future, and when it's her time to fly, I hope she reaches her chosen destination. If anyone can, it would be Pat Summitt.

That Lonely Section of Hell by Lorimer Shenher

Lorimer Shenher's memoire That Lonely Section of Hell, shines a light onto one officer's struggle to do his job, and fulfil this role. Here's a summary from Goodreads.com:

In That Lonely Section of Hell, police detective Lori Shenher describes her role in Vancouver’s infamous Missing and Murdered Women Investigation and her years-long struggle with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder as a result of her work on the case. From her first assignment in 1998 to explore an increase in the number of missing women to the harrowing 2002 interrogation of convicted serial killer Robert Pickton, Shenher tells a story of massive police failure—failure of the police to use the information about Pickton available to them, failure to understand the dark world of drug addiction and sex work, and failure to save more women from their killer. That Lonely Section of Hell passionately pursues the deeper truths behind the causes of this tragedy and the myriad ways the system failed to protect vulnerable women.

I found this book to be well written and well organized albeit the events themselves are very tragic  and profoundly troubling.

When I think of a Police Force, I imagine a big team that is working to fight crime and keep our streets safe.  I know that police are tasked with investigating crimes, and tracking down perpetrators. Their suppose is to serve and protect.

Here is a good CBC article on this case:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/robert-pickton-case-torments-former-detective-lori-shenher-1.3223349

Based on this belief, I found this memoire disturbing for many reasons, and it left me with many questions:

How are departmental priorities established? Who decides where the budget gets spent and who deserves more or less resources? Under the microscope of the media, there is undoubtedly pressure to generate quick results and provide answers when the questions are asked.  The Lonely Section of Hell shows that in reality, some segments of the population receive more resources than others. The level of attention to the crimes, depends on who the victim is. In this case, poor populations of marginalized women fell to the bottom of the priority list.

What avenues exist to officers who need help with systematic miscarriages of justice? Who is there to help when the police are the ones that are not helping? As we find out, officers who speak their minds about inequities and injustices have their future career progression limited.

Why, in this day and age of hyper connectivity, can police agencies not work together more effectively on investigations that are wide reaching? The RCMP and Vancouver Police Department were guarded with the own information; not willing to share details of their separate investigations. RCMP and the VPD were negligent of cooperating together in this case, and I suspect that this continues to be the case in other investigations that bridge common jurisdictional ground.

Detective Shenher was trained and coached by supportive officers prior to his tasking to the Missing
Persons office. Why did their support run out, and where were they when he needed more resources?

I also question whether Robert Pickton was not investigated sooner because his family owned large amounts of land in and around the lower mainland. It is mentioned several times that he was on the police radar for hosting parties with nefarious activities. Why then, was there a lack of attention on the Pickton property? It is suggested that the police suspected illegal activity taking place on his property. Did the Charter limit and shape the (lack of) investigation?

I commend Mr. Shenher for not making Pickton the central focus of her writing. He is very calculated in not fuelling his notoriety and avoids providing the gruesome and lascivious details of his killing. His book is about the investigation and the failing.

This memoire also contains letters from the author to some of the Pickton victims. These letters provide insight into Mr. Shenher's frustration, regret and compassion. Through these letters, we gain and understanding of his feeling of futility and despair.

Detective Lorimer Shenher: An Honourable Officer

I am left asking whether there have been significant improvements to this broken system, and whether there aren't remaining gaps in our criminal justice system that continue to allow marginalized people to be victimized. I know the answer to this question. It is a sobering and miserable conclusion.

Just this week, PTSD has been acknowledged as a legitimate condition that requires Police services need to take care of PTSD and acknowledge the value of their officers after they have been harmed. As we learn from this memoire, the harm that causes PTSD can originate both from external, societal events and internal, police forces abuses. Victimization happens on the outside, and from within. Sobering and thought provoking.

I am glad Mr. Shenher is now focusing his efforts on helping those who want to be helped and appreciate all of his efforts as a personal trainer. I wish him peace and personal satisfaction in the future. Here is his website for a glimpse into his ongoing endeavours: http://www.lorishenher.com
The best is yet to come...Stay brave and keep going. The world need more honourable people like Lori Shenher.

Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper

A CBC Radio One recommendation that didn't disappoint. 

Here's a summary thanks to Goodreads.com: 

I've gone. I've never seen the water, so I've gone there. I will try to remember to come back.
Etta's greatest unfulfilled wish, living in the rolling farmland of Saskatchewan, is to see the sea. And so, at the age of eighty-two she gets up very early one morning, takes a rifle, some chocolate, and her best boots, and begins walking the 2,000 miles to water.  

Meanwhile her husband Otto waits patiently at home, left only with his memories. Their neighbour Russell remembers too, but differently - and he still loves Etta as much as he did more than fifty years ago, before she married Otto.

I gave this novel to my mom for Christmas 2015. It was recommended by CBC's Book Reviews as one of the top 100 novels of 2015. I would rate this one as one of the top 25 books in 2015, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. My mother who is almost 80 also enjoyed it very much.

The enduring love that Russell held for Etta was delicious and sweet. It is a true, gentle love story. It's creative and original in nature. We never quite know who James is...and I still don't.

I recommend it as a very enjoyable read.  

Canada Reads Book #5: Minister Without Portfolio Done!

Down to the wire, but finished on time! In preparation for attending the Canada Reads debates, I was a little rushed to finish Michael Winter's novel. But despite the rush, I really enjoyed this one.

Fishing Village in Newfoundland. Fog Rolling In.

Minister Without Portfolio is an enjoyable read based in Renews Newfoundland and centres around a character who is dealing with PTSD. Here's a quick summary by Goodreads.com:

Henry Hayward is a drowning man. With a soured long-term romance finally at an end, no family, and no refuge to be had in work, he progressively spends his days in the solace of alcohol and his nights with a series of interchangeable partners. In a quest to simultaneously recover from unrequited love and to find meaning in what is becoming an increasingly emotionally arid life, Henry travels to Afghanistan as an army-affiliated contractor.

When Henry becomes embedded in a regiment, he doesn't have time to think about his fixation on Nora or the fragments of his old life, a life he wasn't really living anyway. But everything changes during a tragic roadside incursion when a routine patrol suddenly turns fatal. And Henry, who survives, knows in his heart that he is responsible.

Upon returning home, now tormented by guilt in addition to ennui, he begins to feel even more rootless and restless until the question of his deceased friend’s summer home arises. Soon Henry is trying to bring meaning back to his life and to make posthumous amends by planning to buy and repair his friend’s dilapidated family house. But he hasn't factored family history into the picture—and his deceased friend’s girlfriend has a revelation of her own that may change everything.

My Sweetheart Overlooking Trinity Bay

 Having fallen in love with Newfoundland 2 years ago, I really loved the reminders that I found. This novel is so truly rooted in that Canadian landscape.  The traditional salt box house that dot the coast line, the ever present granite rock that proves hardier than any forest growth. The greying boat stages, and the phenomenon of moving homes over water to other plots of land. Exploring the ocean and being visited by whale.

We didn't make it to Renews, but we fell in love with Trinity Bay.

I loved this story and Canada should read it.

A Typical Sight in Newfoundland

Woody Point on Western Shore of Newfoundland
Saltbox house like the one Tender owned.

The Lighthouse at Woody Point