![]() (Photographs-not seen.)Ī light-speed tour of (mostly) Western poetry, from the 4,000-year-old Gilgamesh to the work of Australian poet Les Murray, who died in 2019. A remarkably generous, fair-minded account of overcoming some of the biggest, and most intractable, obstacles ever deployed by southern racists. Her application became a test of changing racial attitudes, as well as of the growing strength of the civil-rights movement in the South, and Gault became a national figure as she braved an onslaught of hostilities and harassment to become the first black woman to attend the university. Accepted at Michigan's Wayne State, the author was encouraged by local civil-rights leaders to apply, along with another classmate, to the Univ. In high school, Hunter-Gault found herself studying the ``comic-strip character Brenda Starr as I might have studied a journalism textbook, had there been one.'' Determined to be a journalist, she applied to several colleges-all outside of Georgia, for ``to discourage the possibility that a black student would even think of applying to one of those white schools, the state provided money for black students'' to study out of state. In ``L.A.'' (lovely Atlanta), surrounded by her loving family and a close-knit black community, the author enjoyed a happy childhood participating in activities at church and at school, where her intellectual and leadership abilities soon were noticed by both faculty and peers. ![]() While her father served in Korea, Hunter-Gault and her mother moved first to Covington, Georgia, and then to Atlanta. The eldest daughter of an army chaplain, Hunter-Gault was born in what she calls the ``first of many places that I would call `my place' ''-the small village of Due West, tucked away in a remote little corner of South Carolina. ![]() Wells weaves in the struggles of his own life and marriage with his wife's successful fight against recurrent cancer, and their adoption of an orphan from Korea.įrom the national correspondent for PBS's MacNeil-Lehrer Newshour: a moving memoir of her youth in the Deep South and her role in desegregating the Univ. There are also moving stories of difficult births and life-saving efforts in nighttime winter snows. Wells includes tips, perhaps not practical for everyone, but entertaining, how Vicks vapor rub obscures smell and helps ewes adopt, not reject, orphaned lambs. And then there are the owners, reluctant to upset the vet with fears of what might happen. Dealing with the unexpected-llamas who don’t want their nails trimmed, teenagers looking to get high on feline distemper vaccine, a herd of Scottish Highland cattle trying to protect a calf from the vet-makes for some high-tension reading. The phrase “he's never tried to bite anyone in his life” has special meaning for them, and the author includes a story of a group displaying and discussing their wounds and scars. The stories are as much about the human owners as about the animal patients for pet owners, Wells provides insight into a vet's view of the world. The author doesn’t just deal with dogs and cats, but also sheep, goats, llamas, cattle, horses, donkeys and mules, most of which require outpatient visits. He introduces us to a cross section of critters who come through his office, or who he has to visit. Veterinarian Wells returns with another collection of warm, humorous tales of the animals he treats and the people who own and care for them. ![]() While Wells's writing style is plain and straightforward, his stories would be suitable and should be required reading in even the most sophisticated veterinary school programs.Follow-up to All My Patients Have Tales (2009). His memoir begins immediately after graduation as he takes a job at a South Dakota clinic with "no idea" that he is in for a variety of patients, including a pregnant cow that needs a cesarean section, a trio of feisty Jack Russell terriers that keep pursuing porcupines despite getting their faces full of quills and a traveling circus that needs blood tests for its animals: "At no time during veterinary school had anyone mentioned how to go about finding a vein on an elephant." The author conveys not only the great joy he takes in helping animals but also his growing awareness of another aspect of his job that isn't taught in vet school the role of "counselor/psychologist" a vet must play when dealing with someone who's lost a pet or recommending a tough treatment decision. Wells, a practicing veterinarian in a rural Colorado clinic, delivers a humorous and insightful look at his life and work with a wide range of animals.
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