Somehow I was never able to read Mitch Albom, nor "The Shack," nor Prayer of Jabez, nor Secrets of (?), nor any of those best sellers that exhort us to believe in something Big and Above and Beyond. But I have been reading all kinds of other things, in particular, native plants and gardening stuff, like Sara Stein's "Noah's Garden" (come to find she died of lung cancer at age 69, in 2005), and Doug Tallamy's homegrown national park stuff, Rosemary Gladstone's book of herbal remedies, and a lot of Christian books, all promising to prove that the Bible is true and Jesus will welcome us to heaven if only we choose to believe all those promises of the New Testament. So far, not one apologist, ever, has convinced me that the Bible is any more credible than any other text - Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, you name it. Jesus was a Jew, but nowhere in the Bible do I see that he turned from Judaism to a new religion welcoming Gentiles and pagans, provided they convert.... my mom says OF COURSE Jesus is real... my next TBR (to-be-read) ARC (Advance Reader Copy) is about plastic surgeons who tried cosmetic improvements to prisoners to see if looking more attractive would make them nicer people. This one might be interesting.

In 1963, renowned plastic surgeon Dr Michael Lewin approached a newly appointed junior researcher at the New York Department of Correction with a proposal—to quantify offering free plastic surgery to prisoners would curb recidivism. This was the beginning of The Rikers Island Experiment, a.k.a. the Surgical and Social Rehabilitation of Adult Offenders.
While plastic surgery had been included in some prisons’ medical care since the early 1930s, media reception was not always favorable. “Making Angel Faces?” asked the Lancaster Era’s headline. “Shall We Remodel Criminals or Remodel Prisons?” questioned the Courier. “Beauty Clinic for Thugs!” screamed the Charleston Daily Mail.
At its heart, this is a story about the power the prison system wields over those in their care, but it’s also about the socioeconomic power the beautiful wield—and how this problematic power has shaped society today.