Archive for April, 2016

Remembering The OKC Bombing


April 19, 1995

Those born on April 19, 1995 are celebrating their 21st birthday today. For many Oklahomans it’s the 21st anniversary of the day their home was attacked and their loved ones were murdered by deranged individuals seeking revenge on a government they disagreed with.


On April 19, 1995 at 9:01 am Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was having a day like any other. People were arriving to work, babies were being held at daycare, phone calls were being made, kids were sitting in classes. It took 1 minute and 1 individual full of anger and hate to end the lives of 168 Americans and change the lives of thousands more forever. By 9:03 am we were a wounded city, state and nation. All over the world people mourned and prayed for Oklahoma. All that pain and devastation because someone hated choices made by individuals in our government trying to protect others.


Our government makes mistakes and sometimes we greatly disagree with their choices and decisions but we, Americans, also take for granted all the things our government has given us and how much better off we are than so many other nations. Can our government be better? Absolutely! But attacking one another and creating more hate and anger towards each other only creates more of these horrible events. Hate fuels the fire within people who don’t understand reason, compassion, or acceptance. We CAN NOT be a nation that stands behind any person or group that supports division instead of unification. Do not give your votes to people who spew hate and disrespect of other individuals, groups or agencies. We can disagree with each other’s choices and still embrace our diversity and accept that we are different and show respect for one another.

Any individual or group who supports hating or creating fear among any part of our population is creating more homeland terrorism. More events like the attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Building are inevitable when people become irrational with hate and fear. Our basic rights are not being attacked by our government or any other power because laws are created trying, sometimes fruitlessly, to keep us from continually harming one another. Those who encourage such thinking are inciting anger and fear unnecessarily.

Today and everyday I ask you to remember the Pledge of Allegiance we recited as children all over this country. Let those last five words, “liberty and justice for all.”, mean something to you as you go through your daily life in an amazingly diverse world full of all kinds of people with all kinds of lives. Liberty and justice FOR ALL; not just the white, straight, christian, American born.

Let the lights of the OKC Bombing Memorial be a reminder of what hate and fear can do.



Embrace diversity. Embrace change.

“Everybody’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s a really easy way: stop participating in it.” ~Noam Chomsky


All Photo Credits by Chrissy Justice

As an Oklahoman who cried 21 years ago and every time I look back on the devastation caused by one irrationally fearful and hate-filled man (and those who followed him) I worry those with big voices are encouraging this kind of event to happen again. The only thing more powerful than fear and hate is love. Love one another because of our differences, not despite them.

Monique P


Amazon, you hit like a bitch.

As a blogger and HUGE fan of books I find this to be a disgusting misuse of power. Some bloggers actually do make a living giving HONEST reviews of upcoming and newly released books.
I love to read and when I read a book that speaks to me I want to share that with the reading community. So many of the best books I’ve read have been either A. a recommendation from a fellow reader or B. a new release from an author I “know” since I “follow” them on social media waiting with baited breathe for them to give me a new book to devour.
Do we “know” these authors we follow? We’d like to think so, but in all honestly we usually do not. We often know them by pen names, social media presence and what small details of their lives they share with their fans. I “know” Stevie J. Cole and Audrey Carlan as much as I “know” Barry Manilow (and I have been able to tell you everything there is to know about Barry since I was 8 years old, I touched him in 1996 and got a “personal” letter from him in the 80s).
Whether I am reviewing one of these authors’ books or Barry’s newest compilation album it’s an honest review of what I thought and why I thought it. How much I stalk a person on social media doesn’t change my tastes in books (or music and yes I realize I’m very uncool and I’m okay with that).
Amazon not only taking away years of reviews but disregarding the reviewer’s concerns about why this was done is just one example of how they have gotten too big for their britches. Readers who care pour their hearts out in reviews and carefully select their words to properly convey exactly what and why they like or do not like a book. We readers are passionate and to disregard hours of honest reviews about books that have touched us, changed us, and moved us is disrespectful and belittling.
What links do we usually share to fellow readers so they too may enjoy these books? of course. They are the behemoth of the book buying universe.
I am disgusting for my fellow blogger and saddened because these kinds of actions from a book source so many of us send chunks or our paychecks to leave us to wonder how we fight back. Do we let them win and pay the higher dollar at other retailers, go without our e-books and stop sharing our best loved books with others or let them win by allowing this treatment to go on unfettered without altering our spending habits?
You will find one thing to be true 99.9% of the time: readers are passionate about their books and about their opinions of the books they like, love, and hate.
To erase a passionate reader’s voice without so much as a conversation is vile and rude and no matter how big and powerful you are neither of those things will ever be acceptable.
My fellow bloggers and reviewers, somehow we must address and resolve this injustice.

In the meantime; keep reading!

Monique P

The Never Ending Book Basket



So here it goes…


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