Bingeworthy TV: Call the Midwife

Recently I've needed a gentle, upbeat escape in the evenings, so I started watching Call the Midwife. This historical drama about a team of young nurse midwives and Angelican nuns in the late 1950s takes its inspiration from the memoirs of Jennifer Worth. Worth served as a nurse midwife in an impoverished neighborhood in London's East End where she encountered both great hardships and a supportive community.

The characters do face enormous challenges. Pregnancy and childbirth still pose a medical danger to this day, but sixty years ago there were even more unknowns and fewer medical interventions possible. One of the most frequent tasks undertaken by the midwives in this program is to visit the homes of expectant mothers and ensure that the environment is suitable for giving birth. It's only in later seasons that hospital births become an option.

A good part of the optimism and good cheer of Call the Midwife comes from the fact that the characters are taking an active part in improving the health care for their patients. There are frequent reminders of just how much more grim things were a generation ago (even without taking the Blitz into consideration). New tools, new techniques, better hygiene, cutting edge medicines, and a talented and dedicated staff all work together to create a better chance for happy endings in each episode.

~Sarah, Adult Services

Bingeworthy TV: Farscape

When I was in high school and college I watched Star Trek: The Next Generation all the time. I think that was when I realized how much I love shows about space. When I discovered the Sci-Fi Channel (now SyFy) I was thrilled. Sci-Fi introduced me to Farscape. If you can get past the annoying opening theme song*, Farscape is a wild ride of SciFi goodness.

Modern day astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder) accidentally flies into a wormhole and ends up in the far reaches of space on a living ship called Moya. On the same day, Moya picks up another stranger by the name of Aeryn Sun (Claudia Black). Moya was being used as a prison transport under the control of the Peacekeepers. The prisoners on Moya take over the ship and as a result are on the run from the Peacekeepers. Farscape is interesting because the alien makeup and prosthetics are a product of The Jim Henson Company. In fact Farscape was produced by The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment. Two of the main characters, Rygel and Pilot, are puppets created by Henson's Creature Shop.

Farscape is odd, even in space opera terms. Some of the episodes seem to make no sense, but watching the crew grow closer and change due to their relationships with one another is entertaining.  Ben Browder and Claudia Black have amazing chemistry, so much so that when the two actors showed up on later episodes of Stargate: SG-1** I was crazy excited. The series was planned for five seasons, and was cancelled after four. Fortunately a three-hour TV movie, Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, was made to wrap up the story.

*There is some debate as to the annoying opening theme song. Some feel that the opening song is great, it is the closing credits song that is annoying.  You be the judge :)  

**Speaking of Stargate: SG-1, that series had a 200th-episode parody of all kinds of science fiction space shows, and one scene had other actors playing versions of John Crichton and Aeryn Sun.  Additionally, when Claudia Black's character on SG-1 first walks into Stargate Command she sees Ben Browder's character and says, "I know we haven't met. That I'm sure I would remember." Browder's character responds, "Nice outfit."  Yes, I'm a SciFi-show nerd.

~ Amy, Adult Services

Staff Review: "In the Country We Love" by Diane Guerrero

You might recognize Diane Guerrero from Jane the Virgin or Orange is the New Black, but this isn't your typical celebrity memoir. Guerrero's In the Country We Love: My Family Divided is the story of a young woman who overcame the challenges in her life, challenges that sometimes seemed insurmountable, to achieve her dreams. Even if you don't watch much TV, I highly recommend you check out this emotional and inspiring memoir.

With the assistance of co-author Michelle Burford, Diane Guerrero shares how both her worst nightmare and her most impossible dreams came true. From her earliest memories, Guerrero dreamed of being a performer. A dream that seemed impossible for her as the American-born daughter of undocumented Colombian parents.

Guerrero's parents, like so many others, had arrived in the United States with valid visas and then simply stayed past their expiration date, hoping to avoid the notice of government officials. Her family moved from neighborhood to neighborhood in Boston and lived in apartments where landlords would take cash without asking questions. They worked long hours for little pay for employers who exploited their lack of legal protection.

Over the years, her parents tried to gain legal status, but in navigating this complicated and changing system, they fell prey to unscrupulous scam artists. Which is how, one day at the age of 14, Guerrero arrived home from school to discover that her parents had been picked up by immigration to be deported. Guerrero, a native-born U.S. citizen was not a target for ICE, nor did she receive any support from any other agency. From the government's perspective, she fell through the cracks, and she spent her high school years living with family friends.

Diane Guerrero's story is powerful and timely and provides a different perspective on the topic of immigration. If you are a fan of her work as an actor, don't worry! Later chapters do provide a behind the scenes look at her experience working for Netflix and in Hollywood.

~Sarah, Adult Services