Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Parakeet Races and Other Stories: A Memoir
    Parakeet Races and Other Stories: A Memoir
    Parakeet Races and Other Stories: A Memoir
    Ebook200 pages2 hours

    Parakeet Races and Other Stories: A Memoir

    By Cindy Hall Ranii

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    Parakeet Races and Other Stories is a memoir that recounts the challenges and escapades of a family of six children in the 1950s which faces the premature death of its mother. Always authentic, each self-contained story can be read in just a few richly rewarding minutes that may leave the reader laughing out loud, crying, or both. Together the stories recount the collective memories of a remarkable set of siblings, three boys and three girls, the father who gives it his very best, and the mother whom the children can barely remember. The stories explore the mystery of the mothers death and reflect how the death of a parent in that era was often a topic not to be discussed or processed.

    The author, Cindy Hall Ranii, is the oldest daughter in the Hall Family, and beyond sharing the memories of her childhood and that of her siblings, she also shares her experiences as a world traveler, first as a teenager in Finland, then as a college student in India and finally as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran. With her keen powers of observation and respectfulness of different cultures she gives the reader the opportunity to eavesdrop on other peoples and other places.

    In the final segment of Parakeet Races Dr. Ranii takes the reader into the world of disability.
    Stricken with Transverse Myelitis, a rare neuro-immunologic disorder, she went from playing golf one day to being paralyzed from the chest down four days later. Her accounts of this chapter of her life are told with the same delicious, rhythmic writing style as the other two segments of the book.

    The author skillfully weaves her stories from decade to decade, taking the reader on a journey that captivates, entertains and challenges.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAuthorHouse
    Release dateFeb 15, 2012
    ISBN9781468547313
    Parakeet Races and Other Stories: A Memoir
    Author

    Cindy Hall Ranii

    Cindy Hall Ranii approaches her writing from a unique set of experiences: as a motherless-child, an adult child of an alcoholic, a daughter who’s father suffered from dementia, a world traveler and student of world cultures, an athlete, an educator and as a paraplegic. She studied Near Eastern Languages at the University of California, Berkeley and South Asian Regional Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. A retired educator with a doctorate in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern California she served as a teacher of English as a Second Language, a high school principal, a superintendent of schools, and a professor of educational administration. Cindy has published in disability publications and regularly blogs and posts on issues relating to disability and wheelchair use. She was nationally ranked as a wheelchair tennis player in 2010 and is in training for the 2016 Paralympics as a Table Tennis player. Dr. Ranii lives in Santa Cruz, California with her partner Shelly. They have four children and nine grandchildren.

    Related to Parakeet Races and Other Stories

    Related ebooks

    Relationships For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      In a World Without Sushi

      Jun 30, 2021

      In a World Without Sushi
      16 min read

    • Article

      Commentary: How My Korean Immigrant Parents Taught Me To Pursue My Own Version Of The American Dream

      Mar 2, 2020

      When I was very young, my parents worked as night janitors at a law firm in Los Angeles. They often took me to work because they couldn't afford child care, and to keep my grumpiness at bay they zoomed me around in empty wastebaskets as if they were

      3 min read

    • Article

      Childhood Memories

      Aug 26, 2022

      Childhood Memories
      4 min read

    • Article

      Little House

      Jun 5, 2023

      On Monday nights our mother made popcorn and served it to us in mugs with milk poured over. My younger sister and I carried our mugs into the family room and ate the popcorn with spoons, like cereal. We were five and seven. Until we were allowed to s

      21 min read

    • Article

      We LOVE our NEIGHBOURS

      Apr 2, 2020

      We LOVE our NEIGHBOURS
      5 min read

    • Article

      Wary Welcomes

      Apr 4, 2023

      Wary Welcomes
      3 min read

    • Article

      Best Friends Forever

      Mar 24, 2021

      Best Friends Forever
      2 min read

    • Article

      My So-called Cottage Life

      Jun 26, 2019

      My So-called Cottage Life
      7 min read

    • Article

      End Of An Era

      Dec 29, 2017

      End Of An Era
      4 min read

    • Article

      Summers Back Then

      Jun 1, 2021

      Summers Back Then
      3 min read

    • Article

      Candace Jordan

      Dec 14, 2019

      Candace Jordan
      2 min read

    • Article

      Dads Behaving Badly

      Jun 16, 2017

      Dads Behaving Badly
      5 min read

    • Article

      Life on 54th Street

      Oct 4, 2022

      Life on 54th Street
      3 min read

    • Article

      BITS & PIECES

      Apr 2, 2024

      On cold, gray Saturdays when I was 11 years old, I often would go to the local “picture show” at the local theater. The movies were always cowboy shows, and you could pay for a ticket and stay to watch it over and over. Well, on one particular Saturd

      4 min read

    • Article

      BITS & PIECES

      Aug 1, 2023

      When I was a child we lived in Pax, W.Va., a small community with a lot of churches. I remember at least six different ones while I was growing up there in the 1950s. Since it was a very small community of just a few hundred people (less than that no

      5 min read

    • Article

      Homebodies

      Feb 2, 2020

      Homebodies
      5 min read

    • Article

      MY ENGLISH HOME Matthew Fort

      Jan 8, 2020

      MY ENGLISH HOME Matthew Fort
      4 min read

    • Article

      It’s All Relative

      Aug 1, 2021

      It’s All Relative
      9 min read

    • Article

      Two Years Of Solitude

      Dec 31, 2021

      Two Years Of Solitude
      12 min read

    • Article

      My Father’s House

      Aug 19, 2023

      My Father’s House
      9 min read

    • Article

      Dentistry’s Problem Children

      May 8, 2017

      Dentistry’s Problem Children
      11 min read

    • Article

      Welcome To The Neighborhood

      Sep 26, 2022

      Welcome To The Neighborhood
      6 min read

    • Article

      BITS & PIECES

      Aug 3, 2021

      Seems I was a frail, skinny little kid when I was attending kindergarten at Toms River, N.J., back in 1947. My grandmother Applegate often told my mother that she was not feeding me enough, which really wasn’t true. But being the beneficiary of all t

      3 min read

    • Article

      My Family, My Science: One girl’s scientific coming of age.

      Mar 3, 2016

      There is nothing in the world more perfect than a slide rule. Its burnished aluminum feels cool against your lips, and if you hold it level to the light you can see God’s most perfect right angle in each of its corners. When you tip it sideways, it g

      20 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Parakeet Races and Other Stories

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Parakeet Races and Other Stories - Cindy Hall Ranii

      rNabook_preview_excerpt.html}[Kr ܸoՓoۓg?To}k'ߌ>W_~߽Ƴw^߯qjWA>CuCSU**WMKLU磟v+z㦃\i~qӃT\VO~&ݓo~Ͼjpݷm~:~:c_]Unh}0WGBL susu[~T{Lj|c\{^qA0G\(jZOh)?CNec?v~Pޮ'74>KPҵO՞%!3d9ϥPs{|JfjNu?mes}҃]X u.gs\e;[յ wCԚM3ŔDH:#h>Ci rgȧ+摒q/㦠@w,rπ|͍~Q^ b\^C4;|rǙM2|V2=2CO/Z GlEЯ`;C6"qf^-p)t-"E%@s%u-429X it%5{[T'81L]NC<krnLNHH'EU5Lvxʏt /_jA"7kkͯMShӭ#{G_ڕ+aKKPvs&9WmX3ۿ\|m)nF¯]/xvKO^|AxקOLP׻U/\fS^< _|uLS*up`L}VrŠfX { ȂFApQ[=,aV՚|?A"4׮^muc(njF䒂Zx_aTER&ё0^g)(I 3,O\אO.d?9w9,cu17%&-9;Kv Id>נ_%O֑!QJصK j,!p皲@c؈QKΜ$M0 72z$4t%_[D_=D\$,!΅Fu\ٔEblSa;MD쇝kTzLx39.z )(b'o!3a}MsA@bV30pZ5#Ĺha9bȺՒKAYlY`+ b?aƸ=kW& D7qt,+{b!L{JpW>T8Ӳ44-|k%L3b  oyG W(<xIÜ/7(rڼz6P4Lg$Bq[I.3EP_5y4ĬF4NA0V1{ykNyMt&E2P&ha+߾\2oqa;㕾 򹉞q9:<ׁI%ם 2BC$.P=$˛jf.>}usvs$5B=iliLANj:OoXMlN ݟ]@\23029PӾ_l;rVF"]MhҬXrD';|Y!B 2 M%NƧE+D) &YXdpf 4P i Ia \@[>Vlk>6 bYFUg5 xɪ:^HMtUQBn!(GۼE='Je0vb'%uo}a?/ePUd(+NmVMnV uj"X<?1efq[&o@9GJ |K T@4i^f5,Nͼ5.zsW pݙP4jp' qAm7q`"FNxUX'Y=WԒKYf qҴb] @Pӫj옫ԆkOosKԥk^jðwBldٴPw sC7|wNI-Qn]W͑; Z;zGxFqM}OỈY\%+efRE\Jazn L T{((SG7 1,cbu|WXwbJɦ=0A2\z7Tz4>989CzWU?)Mg}Īɀ deRsl `QU޸y"+1U,"F5+*ATCmV֠ ߙa4)͎΍oG>pBmqeGk tlc|-O筥jD b [قz"jz<ږ팟XpA~Z=MClPGRp^Ze.r{ĖnF6Jg!C-lfTْLC:ӛ`[*-eũZac YڰCpXHC)#l,F@F8N` U?=V%Xސ@qJe:Rawv[DܣX,ڪfrhXl<,S/&Cd"15zy弍*8^y7N1f#上&h!6z!*mԼsK=C&H p%Hofpgw.u[)mF|bJTѭL K$Z.R(g|vkoF5J ң| ;xG} D< }nI+ME >Wc= BqL[tZkׯ8šDa;O|Sh1~\ҲVkD0#GH^>gHMss9Rـ~AT̩4؆swT{i1es1HOIM g^n&+R ko,yȬ:+]Y(YsO>=P1QtDF!=:3A"Pxz:8ޔM,Id{'=⺔)kmslYѩ#_3/?jx8I vf@mV`wIqfU _(`]f69DK9tRrվN&?S? t}o& Qc7(!KM[պ&em(2qz=.rю(;r+ΰuzڌ eeσw6@Xgq]iQ%a>̗/_<`=/s7{դeTXhgZWڒ M0mCTX݃ y<6ZfLv`Ѷeu"u &SNk&#nn^1Sl ݸ U̥^l%cpBa[!D)!zf@;y8`}Ȥ̼Lun"\ %(4\g엔r0tN@X3,0%b^?oe`4s"WC~ eδ*ۉYHՐNg֗- HKm2ד&͝^d0ņ2?)myؚb>;VN|'6piLjtsYj}|K0#1 62$ڧmhPoB2T<6,v FC Ki8F`B3vRlC!~՘U,bFqa@B8ŕ-˲VrlT)(+Rz_Go_~B}o?FqJ>2t*)s5L,H.3p}(s嚊 ѻ?Mt6UVν(H+2:cg$V O)]ni5q+@D^גM1fcM~[ҬwGxhڶKQX0 t?^Uo{V!87޲4{Oq$H=3_4pq8ٜa-m tG@y sfw4ڠό4붏r̍*wV%S>2ic(JS~zp)ff'h3C8X?U a)CHh"|=8n'.$r_>/E`͓Ґ󚹧%;00]{t ź~T([Ǔ+7'c |6Y'ŪWPc{vi=Y~2:j2mrDZ [Ǿ Gȵy슘:+V|l:oWϗ|ƲhŽynX㷷r6W]sfB(!Ou{B9)VSARNXM%P/ Ye)m8}?lY;Qc@vDGvzfтlfC*sxF5*kco-5?@wqߋ:؏o k 2$ iP*jTw;ȬdnؑA#[]Ygpu:^Q77
      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1