Radio Galaxy

Pfc. LaVena Johnson, of Missouri, died in Iraq in 2005.

Are y’all following this story? The case of Pfc. LaVena Johnson came up in a Bryant Park Project story meeting, but for whatever reason we didn’t follow it up.

In short, Johnson died outside Balad, Iraq, back in July 2005. The military told her family that she had killed herself. Her father, a doctor, became skeptical of that conclusion after seeing her body. An autopsy report led Dr. John Johnson to believe his daughter had been beaten and sexually assaulted, then burned with chemicals to destroy the evidence.

The U.S. military has closed the case. Meanwhile, a group called Color of Change is circulating a new petition asking Congress to take another look.

This is not a story I know a whole lot about yet. Anyone got a good primer? Here’s one story, from the St. Louis American: Documents and photos suggest foul play in death of Private Johnson

She was found as a feral child. (From the St. Petersburg Times)

It’s one of those stories, you know? The St. Petersburg Times follows the case of a girl found in squalor in a Plant City, Fla., home. Not quite seven years old, she weighed 46 pounds. A neighbor finally called the police, the paper reports:

First he saw the girl’s eyes: dark and wide, unfocused, unblinking. She wasn’t looking at him so much as through him.

She lay on a torn, moldy mattress on the floor. She was curled on her side, long legs tucked into her emaciated chest. Her ribs and collarbone jutted out; one skinny arm was slung over her face; her black hair was matted, crawling with lice. Insect bites, rashes and sores pocked her skin. Though she looked old enough to be in school, she was naked — except for a swollen diaper.

“The pile of dirty diapers in that room must have been 4 feet high,” the detective said. “The glass in the window had been broken, and that child was just lying there, surrounded by her own excrement and bugs.”

Now the girl has been adopted by a local family. They’re working to bring the girl back from her “environmental autism.” Cue the Pulitzer, please.

Bonus: Poynter goes behind the scenes.

For all you faithful members of the BPP Book Club who said you would follow where I went, and for those who are joining us for the first time, the moment has come for the announcement of the first Radio Galaxy Book Club selection.

And it is…Like You’d Understand, Anyway, by Jim Shepard. I can’t tell you all how excited I am to be able to share it with you.

In this superb collection of short stories, Shepard inhabits the lives of an executioner during the French Revolution, a Roman soldier on patrol, a Soviet cosmonaut about to go into space, and an American boy at summer camp, among others. Each story is utterly engrossing and utterly different. Read this book and you’ll see why it was a finalist for the National Book Award and why it won the prestigious Story Prize.

Not only is he incredibly talented and prolific (he’s written six novels and two other collections of stories), Shepard is also a really nice guy. So he has agreed to do an interview with us, in the style of the old BPP Book Club, in which he’ll respond to some of the questions that come up in our discussion.

Then we’ll get you that interview, most likely in podcast form. Stick with us, we’re working on the details.

The paperback comes out August 12. We’ll give you at least a month to read it. I’ll be blogging about the book periodically here.

If you’d like to receive Radio Galaxy Book Club alerts, send me an e-mail here.