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Book Review: American Fantasy by Emma Straub
When I heard author Emma Straub was publishing a novel set on a four-day cruise featuring a fictional boy band from the 1990s, I immediately added it to my TBR pile. I’m not afraid to admit I was a New Kids on the Block fan back in the day (Joe McIntyre was “my” guy!). I read Straub’s novels, This Time Tomorrow and American Fantasy simultaneously, and they are completely different stories. But both were inspired by real life—This Time Tomorrow is a time travel tribute to the author’s relationship with her father, novelist Peter Straub, and American Fantasy reflects her experience going on a New Kids on the Block cruise a few years…
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The Death of Skyler Wilson
On Jan. 5, 2023, the Surry County EMS was dispatched to the home of Jodi and Joseph Wilson in Mt. Airy, North Carolina. A call had come in reporting a child had a seizure in the home. When the first responders arrived, they found four-year-old Skyler Wilson unresponsive and not breathing on his own. Four days later, the boy passed away at Brenner Children’s Hospital in Winston-Salem. His cause of death was listed as a hypoxic brain injury caused by restriction that prevented oxygen to the brain. His doctor at the hospital told police that these brain injuries were consistent with “too much restriction” during the swaddling technique. Most of us are familiar…