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Chrys Weedon<\/strong> | Entertainment Editor<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c<\/span>You probably want him dead, <\/span><\/i>strangers tell me.\u201d This quote contains the main theme of the first essay in Lacy M. Johnson\u2019s \u201cThe Reckonings.\u201d In an essay by the same name, Johnson analyzes a culture that glorifies and searches for revenge\u2014 American culture. She has faced this culture directly many times, especially when she started telling her story. In her 20s, Johnson was kidnapped by her then-boyfriend who attempted to kill her. But she doesn\u2019t want revenge.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c\u2018I don\u2019t want him dead. I want him to admit all the things he did, to my face, in public, and then to spend the rest of his life in service to other people\u2019s joy,\u2019\u201d writes Johnson. Johnson calls this a reckoning; she writes that wishing suffering on people who hurt us only compounds sorrow and injustice instead of cancelling it out.<\/span><\/p>\n This book contains 12 essays that cover topics from sexual assault, to environmental activism to racism. Johnson\u2019s book is covertly a discussion of philosophy and ethics, with memoir stirred in. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe human beings are not born with prejudices. Always they are made for us by someone who wants something,\u201d commented Johnson in the essay \u201cGoliath.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Each essay is itself a new beginning, and covers a topic that is as serious and worth contemplation as the others. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cSilence is pathological. Apathy is pathological,\u201d Johnson says in her chapter about white supremacy: \u201cOn Whiteness.\u201d In this essay and in many others, Johnson dives into the idea that anyone who considers themselves innocent is out of touch with the world and the systems of privilege that exist within it.<\/span><\/p>\n The themes discussed in this book are very relevant and would be considered by the general population as hot-button issues. Johnson\u2019s handle on these topics and her poetic style leave her sentiments with the audience long after this book is read.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Overall Rating:<\/strong> I would strongly recommend this book.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Contact the author at howlentertainment@wou.edu<\/a><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n