Friday 56: Hypocrisy by D. M. Annechino

This is my first foray into the world of the Friday 56.  (I have a thing about alliteration; can you tell?) :O)  Anyway, I was over at Yvonne's blog "Socrates Book Reviews", caught her post and thought it sounded fun, so here I am.

So, you are supposed to go to page 56 of a book (or 56% if you are on an e-reader) and post a sentence that tells something about the book, but hopefully doesn't contain any spoilers.

My book choice for today is "Hypocrisy" by D. M. Annechino.  I received an print ARC of this book from the author and publisher through iReadBookTours, and a review will be posted on my blog this coming Tuesday (May 20th).

Quote:  "And the next thing I know, two security guards escorted me to my office, watched me pack my personal belongings, and then escorted me to the front door."

Here's a bit of information about the book:

In Daniel M. Annechino's fourth novel, Hypocrisy, readers are taken on a thrill ride where the ongoing controversy over cancer research and the real possibility of finding a cure may not be the ultimate goal of certain high-level and powerful people in the medical community.

You're all invited back Tuesday to get the whole Back Porch report on D. M. Annechino's "Hypocrisy".  Have a great weekend!

A to Z Challenge Reveal Blogfest!

I am so excited for today to run around the blogosphere and see what all the #AtoZChallenge tribe will be up to next month!

Last year was my first A to Z Challenge, and my theme was plays in which I had been involved.  Of course, some of the letters are harder to do than others (X and Q, anyone?) and some of the letters I had to use plays that I liked, but had not 'done'.

Since last year, I have done quite a bit of study on the "Proverbs 31 Woman".  For those who may not know, this refers to the verses in Proverbs 31 in the Bible, in which King Lemuel's mother gives him advice.  Verses 10-31 cover things her son, the king, should look for in a woman.

So, this year, my A to Z Challenge theme will be ...

A(ltruistic) to Z(ealous) Qualities of the Proverbs 31 Woman!

So come back on April 1 to check it out!  Join the challenge by clicking the button below - there is still plenty of time to join in the fun!

I'm also sharing this post with my friends at:

It would just tickle me pink to cross-introduce folks from one group to the other, because they have both helped me grow exponentially as a blogger!

Mental Health Mondays #1

PURPOSE:  to reduce some of the stigma associated with mental illness by talking about it more...in public.

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Mental Health Mondays is my freshwoman foray into the world of hosting a blog link-up. Mental Health has been an interest/concern/passion of mine for most of my adult life. One of the gifts I received at the onset of puberty was a tendency towards depression.  I call it a gift, because without having dealt with depression for nearly 40 years now, I would have become a much different person.

I'm not advocating that everyone go out and get them a bottle of depression at the corner pharmacy.  It is also a very frustrating condition.  Sometimes I get angry that I will probably have to take meds for this the rest of my life.  Then I am very grateful that these medications exist and I don't have to suffer.

I am also not off my rocker, a sandwich short of a picnic or not playing with all of my marbles. I don't own a rocker (although I'd like to); my picnics are never short of food and I do not discriminate between my marbles.

But don't call me normal, either.  That is also a dirty word at our house.  Differences can be celebrated.

Many people tend to treat someone with a mental illness as "less than human".  For four years, I worked with adults who had MR/DD (mental retardation and/or developmental disabilities) in a residential/teaching facility.  Most people  out and about were at least kind, but some people's behavior was just...bad.  I've seen people move to the opposite side of an aisle in a store, get up and move to a different table in a restaurant, and make inappropriate comments.

I even heard of one hospital ER staff making a comment, "Why don't they take 'them' to the vet where they belong?"  I cannot attest the veracity of that statement, but unfortunately it would not surprise me.  And it's probably a good thing I wasn't there.  One thing that job changed in me was an increased willingness to jump into the middle of confrontational situations.  If I had been there, the so-called medical professional would have been a patient in their own ER and I would probably be online from the prison library.

And a Humongous (I spell-checked) Mental Health Mondays Hug to Michael Garcia from Houston, a waiter who refused to serve a man who was making extremely rude comments about a family whose little boy has Down's Syndrome.

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"RULES"

1.  Please put this button in your post:

<a href="http://www.backporchervations.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKl-EbqRPUF1FhpX52rRshecj-04cE68yNkj-0Bbw6wOd9LB57zLygpvNR6MVDXu4Ika2TiD0BMVpxTMNIFkZsYfBu68MhvZ0-lPkP-Uownc1Xw73i6oWH2RBOZJ0F_ChYE0CZZIFQWO8/s1600/Mental+Health+Mondays.jpg" width="125" height="125" alt="Back Porchervations"/></a>
2.  If you are a "hater", I'm sure there are places you can go to get what you want, but this link-up is not one of them.  If you will not play nice with others, you will go home before milk and cookies on the Porch.
3.  A social media follow or two and/or a subscription would be VERY MUCH APPRECIATED, but not required.
4.  Posts should have some sort of relation to a mental health topic, but other than that it's wide open.
5.  As this link-up is BRAND new (TODAY!), spreading the word will bring you cosmic brownie points.  Well, maybe not, but I would really appreciate it!