Mukilteo Musings

A Book Plug

"The World According to Chuck" by Chuck Sigars is delightful and a must read especially in these times of supposed cultural war. First of all, I have really only met Chuck a couple of times and to me he is known as Beth's Dad. He knows me as Lucas's Mom. Our kids are the best of friends; they played in a quartet together in high school--Lucas was the viola and Beth was the cello. Beth is also a beautiful singer and is studying voice in college in Texas. Even though these kids are in their second year of college, they remain in close contact by e-mail, cell phone, and in person on college breaks. Her mother is locally famous for her gorgeous voice and performances. Secondly, Chuck writes for our local paper, The Mukilteo Beacon, and he has managed to have the Seattle Times publish some of his articles in the Opinion section. Chuck has a blog and has his columns published weekly and he turned them into a BOOK!! So, he is my hero and has accomplished what I merely dream of.

I have a couple of favorites. The first is his chapter called "Sticks and Stones" where he sort of writes about Ann Coulter:

"....I will say that on a couple of occasions Ann Coulter has scared my children, and that can be a disturbing thing, as you can imagine. My children have been heavily influenced by my wife, who has taught them to be sensitive to other people's feelings, to care about the environment, to appreciate the diversity of different cultures and types of people, and to like whales. In other words, she has created little liberals.

Ann Coulter does not like liberals, and when my kids have run across her on TV, where she hangs out a lot, or read her writings, it bothers them. 'She hates us!' they say. So it seems...." Pg. 129

My other favorite chapter is, of course, where he writes about my son and his friends in his chapter called "I've Got Mail". Chuck asked his daughter's friends to send him e-mails about college life and what they missed most about Mukilteo:

"...And I found out. Teriyaki. They really miss teriyaki....

...Lucas Eaton wrote from Missoula, Montana (490 mi.), which he describes as a place where 'no one talks in a funny accent and everyone is liberal.' He loves the hiking and the mountains, and he wants everyone back home to know he is getting an A in Geography. He misses the beach and the diversity of Mukilteo, which is the kind of thing a liberal would say. He also looks forward to crossing three mountain passes on his way home because 'it scares the (mild expletive deleted) out of my mom.' Which you can't do often enough. ..." Pgs. 274-275

Thank you, Beth's Dad, for your wonderful book and I hope you sell a million copies. You give me a tiny little glimmer of hope. It is available through Barnes & Noble at:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?userid=692QCplANq&isbn=141347036X&itm=4