Kissing stupidity, ILS solidity, wiki validity

I believe libraries need firm policies for dealing with poor teen behavior.

Flashback author Penny Coleman

Was there one specific "trigger" that compelled you to write your deeply moving book Flashback: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Suicide, and the Lessons of War—both a history of PTSD and an intimate account of military wives' struggles with the condition—or was it a culmination of personal experiences and current events?

I'm a documentary photographer and an oral historian. I love listening to people talk about their lives, especially when what they want to talk about relates to something unresolved in my own. In the case of Flashback, I wanted to hear how other women had survived their husbands' suicides and whether they blamed themselves, their husbands, or the war. So I began interviewing women whose husbands were also veterans of the war in Vietnam, who came home with what is now known as PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder) and had subsequently taken their own lives. The more I talked to other widows, the angrier I got. We all blamed ourselves for not having loved enough, or noticed enough, or intervened appropriately. We had failed; we were abandoned. The government knew better, and they didn't tell us. They exploited the stigma attached both to PTSD and to suicide that isolated and silenced us. I was about two years into my research when the United States inva

ded Afghanistan and then Iraq. What had been primarily an historical investigation was transformed into a cautionary tale.

In reading your book, I was affected by the definition of "collateral damage" provided by the U.S. Army. I felt that you were a manifestation of "collateral damage" of the Vietnam War. Do you agree?

"Collateral damage" is a euphemism the military adopted in Vietnam for unintentional damage. War, in other words, is a messy business; sometimes the wrong people get hurt, but if we didn't mean to do it, it's not our fault. By that definition, yes, I would be an example of collateral damage. But I don't accept their definition. I do blame the military for failing to prioritize the mental health of soldiers. I do blame the Veterans Administration for making us fight for diagnoses and support. I do blame the government for refusing to study the relationship between combat, PTSD, and suicide, and then for using the absence of proof to justify their disgraceful lack of preparedness for the looming mental health needs of yet another generation of soldiers and veterans. Collateral damage in this case is just doublespeak for ignoring the safety and health of soldiers, veterans, and their families.

DEAR LJ

—Advice for the Library-Lorn

LJ's March 28 Library-lorn advice on handling two lovelorn staffers struck a false note with an LJX reader who asked us, "Are you nuts?" and offered another approach.

Dear LJ: Kissing at the circulation desk sounds sweet, and it's probably cute, but nip this in the bud. Will it be so cute when they have their first fight and hurl insults at each other across the public access terminals? People right out of library school may be young, but they are adults and they are also professionals. It's nice that they don't have to be clandestine, but some activities are appropriate in the work place and some are not. I'd also dust off the sexual harassment policy and run through it at a staff meeting—not directing it at any one person (or any two people) but just making sure all are aware.

Just wondering, would you have given the same answer if it were a gay or lesbian relationship?
—Bobbie Goering, Exelon Library Services, Chicago

Great points, Bobbie. Thanks for the response!

Franken, Al.

The Truth with Jokes.

8 CDs. unabridged. 12 hrs. Brilliance Audio. 2005.

ISBN 1-59600-061-9
[ISBN 978-1-59600-061-2].

$102.25. HUMOR

Is Franken getting more surreal, or is it our government? Building on his last book (Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them), the author takes us on a comic tour of our country's current political status—or it would be comic if so much of it wasn't showing up in the news. From the tactics used by the Republican Party to retain control of the government, to the latest on Congressman Tom DeLay and lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Franken and his research team deliver a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of our government. Grammy winner Franken (2004) shows how our government has turned an $80 billion dollar surplus on Jan. 23, 2001 into a national deficit of more than two trillion dollars, and how that 11 trillion dollar shortfall the Social Security Trust Fund is teetering under actually won't occur until the year infinity. Franken's performance is stellar; he is certainly not afraid to point out that the emperor has no clothes. Highly
reco

mmended for all libraries.

——Theresa Connors, Arkansas Tech Univ., Russellville