The Washington Post - 31.07.2019

C10 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.WEDNESDAY, JULY 31 , 2019

ACROSS
1 Gulf of Califor-
nia peninsula
5 SLR setting
10 Exchange
words?
14 Voting unit
15 Make amends
16 Headey of
“Game of
Thrones”
17 Manga series
also known
as “Mach
GoGoGo”
19 History
20 Operates
properly
21 U.K. equivalent
of an Oscar
22 Crisis point?
26 Day to put all
your eggs in
one basket
27 Perfectly,
with “to”
28 Toucan Sam’s
cereal
31 Sunday entrée
33 Novelist Grey
34 Today’s
painting,
sculpture, etc.
41 __ Beat: old
fan mag
42 Alternative
energy choice
43 “Golly!”
49 You can skip it
50 Grieves
51 Chemist’s tube
53 Some govt.
bonds
54 Hilarious folks
56 Curse
57 DJs’ devices ...
and a hint to
this puzzle’s
circles
62 Algerian setting
of Camus’ “The
Plague”
63 Maxim
64 Hawkeye State
65 Saucy
66 Bay Area NFLer
67 Do as directed

DOWN

1 Air rifle ammo

2 Swiss peak

3 Charlie Brown

hero __

Shlabotnik

4 Maven

5 In the distance

6 Rude observer

7 Sound heard

around the

clock

8 Tips for a street

performer

9 Each

10 Texas border

city

11 Unwilling

to hear, as

criticism

12 Arched foot

part

13 Volga region

natives

18 MADD focus

21 Hay bundlers

22 Artist Chagall

23 “__ lived–

Brooklyn, of

ample hills, was

mine”: Whitman

24 Campus official

25 For fear that

26 Sicilian hot spot

29 Depleted atmo-

spheric layer

30 One may be

displayed on a

boathouse wall

32 View from

Yellowstone

35 Scrip orders

36 Signature

piece?

37 Bygone period

38 Tons

39 Eagerly

attentive

40 Image in the

Timberland logo

43 1997 Hanson #1

song

44 1983 Lionel

Richie title

words before

“the sun” and

“the rain”

45 One of the Nel-

son brothers of

’90s rock

46 “Murder on the

__ Express”

47 Dishwashing aid

48 Parents’ date-

night expense

52 “The More

You Know” TV

spot

54 Fashion’s

Gernreich

55 OPEC member

57 Light brown

58 LinkedIn profile,

e.g.

59 Soft toss

60 Lamb’s mom

61 “By the way ...”

LA TIMES CROSSWORD By Zachary David Levy

TUESDAY’S LA TIMES SOLUTION

© 2019 Tribune Content Agency, LLC. 7/31/19

kidspost

The Stars Beneath Our Feet
By David Barclay Moore.
Ages 10 to 14.

A

nyone who stepped foot
in Lolly Rachpaul’s
room knew his passion.
Lego boxes lined the
walls. The bricks either
stored inside or displayed as fully
formed structures or vehicles —
each piece placed according to the
directions.
Lolly’s only brother Jermaine
gave him his first set. But this
Christmas, Jermaine isn’t there to
add to the collection. He had fallen
in with a drug-dealing crew in
Harlem, their New York neighbor-
hood. At age 20, he was shot dead.
Twelve-year-old Lolly is angry
and confused. He doesn’t care
about Christmas. But an unex-

pected gift, a book on architecture,

gets him thinking.

“It gave me crazy energy to want

to rip apart all of my Legos and

make them into something else,”

he says. “Something different.”

The project starts on his bed-

room floor. After his mom’s girl-

friend gives him trash bags full of

the plastic bricks — discarded

from the toy store where she

works — Lolly’s castle takes over

the living room of their small

apartment. Ma loses patience and

orders him to pack it up.

An opportunity to rebuild it

away from their apartment excites

and worries Lolly. What would his

friends and classmates think?

Lego-building isn’t a popular hob-

by among 12-year-olds. At that

age, boys from his housing project

are more likely to join a crew. Lolly

and his best friend Vega feel pres-

sure to do the same.

But Lolly realizes that Lego-

building is helping him and not

just as a distraction from his

brother’s death.

“Just being here with my Legos,

building, I could almost feel my

brother with me. Like he was actu-

ally in this room, watching over

me,” he says.

The ever-growing Lego world

intrigues the kids at Lolly’s after-

school program — especially Big

Rose, a girl who seldom speaks.

Lolly’s willingness to let others

in on his project comes with risks

but also the opportunity to build

something more satisfying than

plastic towers: friendships.

— Christina Barron

[email protected]

SUMMER BOOK CLUB

Grieving boy uses Legos gift

to build hope and friendship

CHIP SAYS

Today is National Avocado Day! What did the

tortilla chip say to the avocado when the dip

bowl was empty?

TODAY

A cold front breaks the heat a little,

with high temperatures in the

upper-80s and possible rain.

KIDSPOST.COM

Teen climate activist Greta

Thunberg is taking her

message to America the

old-fashioned way: by boat. ILLUSTRATION BY LATTIE ROBERT, 7, ARLINGTON

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE...

Ghost (ages 8 to 12) is the first in

Jason Reynolds’s Track series,

stories of four kids on an elite

middle school track team. Castle

Crenshaw, known as Ghost, has a

talent for sprinting. When a local

track coach takes notice, Ghost is

invited to be part of the team — but

only if he can stay out of trouble.

That’s a serious challenge, given

that his dad’s in jail, his mom is

overworked, he’s bullied at school

and he’s got no money for those

fancy running shoes he craves.

JOIN THE CLUB

Last call for Summer Book Club,

which is open to kids ages 6 to 14.

Find short descriptions of all eight

books we chose at wapo.st/

kidspostbookclublaunch2019. The

first 500 kids registered will

receive a snap watch. To join the

club, children must be registered

by a parent or guardian. That adult

must fill out our form at wapo.st/

kidspostbookclub2019 or send their

email, the child’s first and last

names, age and address to

KidsPost Summer Book Club, The

Washington Post, 1301 K St. NW,

Washington, D.C. 20071.

HANNAH AGOSTA FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

Twelve-year-old Jerome is

mistakenly shot and killed when a

police officer believes a toy gun

he’s holding is real in Jewell Parker

Rhodes’s Ghost Boys (ages 9 to

12). The boy’s ghost observes how

his family and friends deal with the

shooting. He also meets the ghosts

of other African American boys and

teens who have been killed, most

notably Emmett Till. The “ghost

boys” help explain to Jerome how a

long history of racial injustice

might have led to his death.

Jerome’s ghost then has a chance

to share this knowledge with the

BILL O’LEARY/THE WASHINGTON POST white police officer’s daughter.

“We’ve hit guac bottom!”

Hi, Carolyn:

About eight years

ago, when our kids

were in

elementary

school, I became

casual friends

with five other

women, moms “in

the same class.” As

time went on, the kids’

friendships changed. The moms

remained. We usually get

together for coffee about once a

month. We have been there for

each other in some difficult times

(cancer, a divorce, the death of

parents, etc.).

All of us work outside the home

but one, and her kids are both

now in their teens. Yesterday, at

our regular coffee, she announced

that her husband is leaving her

after nearly two decades of

marriage. We jumped in with

condolences and support.

However, what this friend said

next stunned me: that what

devastated her the most is that

she will have to get a job, and she

can’t imagine not being there for

her children because “what kind

of mother chooses work over

being a good parent?” Those are

the precise words she used.

The remaining five of us work

because that is the life we chose.

We do not consider ourselves to

be inadequate parents. I didn’t

say anything, except continued

support, but I am hurt by her

words. Should I chalk it up to her

being distressed, or is it worth

bringing it up?

— Stunned

Stunned: I don’t know — is she

worth bringing it up?

Close friends can’t leave hurt

feelings between them untended

and still remain close, so if she is

one, then I’d advise picking your

moment and raising it one-on-

one.

Coffee friends, though, can let

all kinds of stuff go — just by

saying to themselves mentally,

“She can be a doink sometimes,

but we go way back.”

There are also different ways to

speak up, if that’s what you choose

to do. There’s the I-just-need-to-

say-this method — “When you

said X, that bothered me” — and

there’s the gracious offer of a

mouth-defooting opportunity:

“You said X the other day. Did you

really mean that?”

Both of them can let a friend

know that she hit a sore spot but

that you’re still on for coffee next

month.

Dear Carolyn: I want to be a

person who wants to hang out

with friends. But most of the time

when an opportunity arises, even

to see people I like, I just don’t

want to go. Usually I don’t regret

it when I do drag myself out of the

house, but that doesn’t encourage

me to next time. I’m not anxious

or anything, I just seem to be

missing something other people

have that makes them look

forward to seeing people?

— Trying Not to be Asocial

Trying Not to be Asocial: I don’t

think you’re missing something

so much as you have something

else. Contentment with your own

company, for example.

Introversion. Hobbies.

These aren’t good or bad,

they’re just different from the

traits that motivate people to seek

the company of others more.

And as long as you pair them

with self-knowledge, there’s no

reason your conflicting impulses

can’t get along. Just decide

upfront that you will force

yourself out X times per Y — then

see whether that feels right, then

adjust your rules as needed to

sustain friendships without

depleting yourself.

All of this assumes you’re at

your typical energy level; if you

feel you have less lately, then

consider a trip to your doc.

Write to Carolyn Hax at

[email protected]. Get her column

delivered to your inbox each morning

at wapo.st/haxpost.

 Join the discussion live at noon

Fridays at live.washingtonpost.com.

Co≠ee pal’s words are hard to swallow

Carolyn

Hax

NICK GALIFIANAKIS FOR THE WASHINGTON POST