Teen Trouble

I didn’t think much of Towelhead as I read it.

It’s the woeful saga of an unloved 13-year-old girl in a Houston suburb in 1991. It struck me as unnecessarily prurient and overly obvious.

But Jasira, Towelhead’s beleaguered narrator, haunts me two weeks after I finished the novel.

It’s not the accurate depiction of awkward sexual encounters between willing teenagers that upset me. It's the desperation caused by Jasira’s selfish, indifferent parents. They neglect her to such as extent that the child eagerly complies with the adult men who molest her.

It’s unbearable realizing that I probably know a lot of Jasiras, and that there’s nothing I can do to help them.

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A remarkably generous good samaritan helped me with my computer issues last night.

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I'm distraught by the setback in Kansas City's efforts to acquire a WNBA team.