Last night I watched the film “True Spirit” about Jessica Watson who sailed around the world solo, non-stop, at age 16. I would say that is determination. First of all, who wants to do that? It takes a certain mind-set. It was her dream to do it and she was able to succeed. It almost killed her but imagine how it felt when it was over. A huge high. At 16, I would image you spend the rest of your life trying to live up to it all. But she learned a lot about herself, life, death, and the sea. She will always have that experience. The film was quite moving. It is available on Netflix.

Another film I watched recently was “Lee”. It is about Lee Miller who was a highly sought after Vogue model in the 1920’s. When she left modeling, she picked up a camera and spent time studying with Man Ray in France and photographing her socialite friends. When the war broke out she was an established photographer living in England with her husband, Ronald Penrose. She became a war photojournalist for Vogue and managed to talk her way to the Front. Miller took thousands of photos and was one of the first photographers to enter Dachau. It all had a profound effect on her. The film covers a short period of her life but shows her determination to succeed in a man’s world. Kate Winslet does a good job in the starring role. It is available on Netflix.

For the TCK in you, I came across a couple of new books.

“Blue Feet Monsoon” by Cynthia Green. It takes place in post-colonial Singapore, Anoushka’s seventh country – Peru, Brazil, India, Philippines, Japan, Colombia and Singapore. Anoushka decides she really likes Singapore so she pretends to volunteer at the elderly ward of a hospital in order to find somebody to teach her to speak Hokkien. She thinks it will make her fit in to her new country. This kicks off a series of adventures. The book is fast paced and a fun trip through adolescent ups and downs. I enjoyed this fast paced book about change and movement.

“Between Worlds: An Expat’s Quest for Belonging” by Inga Aksamet. Inga has written several books about hiking, camping and travel. This is her memoir about growing up TCK. She starts out in Pakistan at age four. She crisscrosses the globe always returning to California between postings. She evacuates from Pakistan and Bangladesh because of wars. She searches for her own identity through all the changes and challenges of constantly being uprooted. In the end she finds her calling as an oncology nurse. I enjoyed this story of self discovery. As I traveled through Inga’s world, I could relate to her adventures and traumas having lived in Asia, South America and even Oakland myself. It sounds like it all worked out very well for her in the end. I recommend it.