parttimemomdigest: [New post] Dog Bone Soup: A Boomer’s Journey by Bette A. Stevens

Sunday, October 3, 2021

[New post] Dog Bone Soup: A Boomer’s Journey by Bette A. Stevens

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Dog Bone Soup: A Boomer's Journey by Bette A. Stevens

by Rosaliene Bacchus

In Dog Bone Soup: A Boomer's Journey, Maine author Bette A. Stevens reminds us that being poor should not define who we are as individuals. With determination as well as the helping hand and guidance of those who care, we can become the person we aspire to be. Herself a boomer, Stevens takes us back to America of the 1950s and 1960s. On leaving home to enter the U.S. Army, eighteen-year-old Shawn Daniels looks back on growing up in Lebanon, Maine, where his family was scorned as "nothing but poor white trash."

Shawn's narrative contains no mention of the year or his age. Only his school grade records the passing years. His earliest memory is of watching mice scamper across the rafters as he lay in bed at nights. Having one as a pet appealed to him. Their home was a two-room log cabin with two small windows. About four years old at the time, he was too young to understand how harsh conditions were for his mother to raise three kids without electricity and indoor plumbing.

When his mother moved out, taking only his baby sister with her, Shawn's life and that of his younger brother took a downward turn. Gone were his days of fishing with his dad. For about a year or so, the brothers lived in a foster home with strict rules. They went hungry and were often confined to their room as punishment for misbehavior or bad table manners.