Forget Me Not

Forget Me Not by Ellie Terry

A girl is moving... again. She has had to move every time her mother breaks up with a boyfriend - and that seems to happen frequently. This time she is starting a new middle school in St. George, Utah. She wears crazy clothes to help distract from her Tourette's tics. Her neighbor is an Asian boy who happens to be student body president at her school. He likes to play baseball and is attracted to the new girl, but reluctant to be seen with her. The other kids at school tease the girl all the time for her clothes and tics. Finally the boy is willing to be seen with the girl. It all comes to head when his friends make fun of her and he punches them. This gets him suspended from school and causes him to lose his leadership position. But now they are good friends. Alas, her mom has married a guy in Nevada and they are going to move soon. The friendship has helped her to be more bold in her new school and be forward about her tics. The story is told in an open narrative style with various verse. It brings together the challenges of coming of age with peer pressure, medical conditions and family issues. There is even a side story of the "mean" girl and the challenges from her history.

Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick

The COVID-19 pandemic is still in recent memory. In the future there will be a complete accounting done of the successes and failures in the response. For now, we have books like Pandemic, Inc. that provide anecdotes of some of the big failures. 

Most of the focus is on masks and government procurement. Hospitals did not have nearly enough masks. An American manufacturer was begging for contracts to help ramp up production. Back in the Bush administration, efforts were made to have a robust government stockpile. However, the stockpile was curtailed during the Obama and Trump administrations.

There were ridiculous efforts made to procure masks at the start of the pandemic. China had cut off supplies. The government was willing to get a check to anybody that could provide masks quickly. Many people legitimately thought they could and set up businesses to do it. There were others that were just in it for a quick buck. Plenty of fraud abounded. How does the government balance immediate need with the need to weed out corruption?

The vaccine production also gets some coverage. There were some people that were fighting for years to develop the technology. The few companies that were ready at the outbreak of the pandemic made good money, but they did deliver. 

There is brief discussion of lockdowns and other political actions. The author is based in Texas, so the theater of the Texas governor gets some coverage. However, the disjointed political response would require another book.

The Geography of Risk: Epic Storms, Rising Seas, and the Cost of America's Coasts

Coastal lands have been heavily developed in the last century. These areas are often filled with expensive homes (many of them second homes.) Alas, the areas are susceptible to storms and sea level rising. Many of the areas are essentially built of sand bars. Rather than being abandoned after flooding, these areas are often rebuilt with higher value property replacing the ruined less expensive housing.

The private developers have often outsources the risk in these areas to the government. Private industry had largely backed out of many of these flooded areas. However, the federal government has come in to help support flood insurance. Alas, this program has had huge losses and has supported rebuilding in flooded areas. Beyond this, FEMA has typically provided government assistance to any area in a big disaster. The federal government is subsidizing people to build in flood-prone areas. (Even fiscal conservatives are eager to get federal money when a storm hits their district.) New Jersey seems to be the best at extracting money. There are curious cases of the Corps of Engineers moving sand to the beach, only to have it blow away shortly after. 

What is the fix? There are billions and possibly trillions of dollars of real estate sitting on locations that are likely to be underwater in the next century. Maintaining that land will be extremely expensive. Eventually, they will not be able to be bailed out. Will we gradually move to higher ground, or just continue to rebuild in the same vulnerable locations as we have done?