Posts
Odetta cancelled her show at the Old Town School of Folk Music.
31 August 2005
Thank God we're spending money in the right places!
"It appears that the money has been moved in the president’s budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that’s the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can’t be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us."
-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.
Trading the safety of New Orleans for the oil in Iraq? Good call, W! That worked out well...
Read the whole (sadly, not unbelievable) story of this mess here.
-- Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana; New Orleans Times-Picayune, June 8, 2004.
Trading the safety of New Orleans for the oil in Iraq? Good call, W! That worked out well...
Read the whole (sadly, not unbelievable) story of this mess here.
The world is too much with me now
Science Boy and I watched the news coverage of New Orleans this morning. It's too heartbreaking to comprehend. He has friends there and loves New Orleans. I have always wanted to go and, in fact, had hoped to get married in Pirate's Alley some one day.
PLUS, what about the de Grummond Library's irreplacable collection of children's literature treasures? Has it all been destroyed? And what of all the other libraries all over the south? Children whose homes were literally washed away will not even be able to turn to the comfort of Curious George or Madeline?
That news was followed by word of a devastating crash near my former home and news of the hundreds of people killed in Iraq today.
Wordsworth wrote, "The world is too much with us," and that's how I feel today. Too much sorrow abounding.
I will think of something happy and will post again later.
Wishing peace and love to all.
PLUS, what about the de Grummond Library's irreplacable collection of children's literature treasures? Has it all been destroyed? And what of all the other libraries all over the south? Children whose homes were literally washed away will not even be able to turn to the comfort of Curious George or Madeline?
That news was followed by word of a devastating crash near my former home and news of the hundreds of people killed in Iraq today.
Wordsworth wrote, "The world is too much with us," and that's how I feel today. Too much sorrow abounding.
I will think of something happy and will post again later.
Wishing peace and love to all.
If only I had seen this before I moved...
PaperBackSwap is a place where you can trade paperbacks with other booklovers, thus ensuring that you find a good home for the books you're done with while replenishing your own store of books with things you want to read -- all for just the cost of postage. Check it out.
(Then again, good thing I didn't know about it or Science Boy would have had to help me put up even more bookshelves...)
(Then again, good thing I didn't know about it or Science Boy would have had to help me put up even more bookshelves...)
30 August 2005
Ta-da!
Well, I never *did* figure out how to fix the problems with my blog, so I re-did the whole thing. Still a few things I would like to tweak (can't *quite* figure out how to change the color of the links in the sidebar, for one), but nothing really crucial. I think I kinda like the new design, although I *was* fond of the old one.
Maybe now I will post more. AFTER I get some work done, that is!
Maybe now I will post more. AFTER I get some work done, that is!
10 August 2005
Arrrgh!
I have been putting off posting until I could figure out why my formatting suddenly changed and could fix it. But I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT! I have tried a bunch o' stuff, including e-mailing blogger (which, for the first time ever, was NO help at all)... I do not know WHAT else to do. If anyone is still reading this and can me me some advice on how to fix the blog's formatting, please send me an e-mail!
Thanks.
Thanks.
25 July 2005
Mr. Blue dies
Crime novelist Edward Bunker, who learned to write in prison and appeared in the movie "Reservoir Dogs," has died in hospital in Burbank, California. He was 71.
Read the rest.
Read the rest.
Quote o' the Day
"It's really hard for a boy to become a man, and in our society, not many boys do. The challenge for a boy is to become a man who has integrity, strength, kindness, and understanding. How many mendo you know who are like that? I don't know many."
-- from "Unfinished Business" by John Marsden, in Guys Write for Guys Read
-- from "Unfinished Business" by John Marsden, in Guys Write for Guys Read
More False Papa
A Florida mailman credited his persistence with winning Key West's annual Ernest Hemingway look-alike competition, beating nearly 160 snowy-haired men resembling the Nobel Prize-winning U.S. writer. Bob Doughty, 61, of Deerfield Beach, Fla., a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier clad in a wool cable knit turtleneck, said his favorite Hemingway book was "The Old Man and The Sea."
He won the contest, held late on Saturday, on his 13th attempt. "Longevity and patience. Keep trying," he said.
Read the whole story.
2005 Imitation Hemingway winner
Gary Davis, a cardiologist from Illinois, won the 2005 Imitation Hemingway Contest with his piece, Da Moveable Code:
Paris could be very fine in the winter when it was clear and cold and they were young and in love but that winter of 1924 they quarreled badly and she left for good. Paris, the city of light, turned dark and sodden with sadness. But it was still a damn fine place and he hated to leave it so he sat in the cafés all day and drank wine and thought about writing clean short words on bright white paper.
He preferred Café des Amateurs, on the Place St-Michel. The waiters in their long aprons respected him and he did good work there, defeating them all in the arm wrestling and the drinking and the dominoes and the boxing. They told him timeless stories of love and cruelty and death. That was good, because his Michigan stories had dried up, his jockeys and boxers had worn out, and sometimes he worried his oeuvre might be over.
Read the rest (and the runners-up), here.
Paris could be very fine in the winter when it was clear and cold and they were young and in love but that winter of 1924 they quarreled badly and she left for good. Paris, the city of light, turned dark and sodden with sadness. But it was still a damn fine place and he hated to leave it so he sat in the cafés all day and drank wine and thought about writing clean short words on bright white paper.
He preferred Café des Amateurs, on the Place St-Michel. The waiters in their long aprons respected him and he did good work there, defeating them all in the arm wrestling and the drinking and the dominoes and the boxing. They told him timeless stories of love and cruelty and death. That was good, because his Michigan stories had dried up, his jockeys and boxers had worn out, and sometimes he worried his oeuvre might be over.
Read the rest (and the runners-up), here.
2005 Faux Faulkner Winner
Sam Apple has won the 2005 competition with his piece, The Administration and the Fury: If William Faulkner were writing on the Bush White House:
"He needs his makeup," Dick said.
"I ll do it," Condi said. She put a little brush on my check and it tickled and I laughed.
Rummy walked into the room. "Jesus, what s he laughing about," Rummy said.
"Dont you pay attention to him, Georgie," Dick said. "They re going to be asking you all about Social Security. You just remember what we talked about."
"He cant remember anything," Rummy said.
I started to holler. Dick s face was red and he looked at Rummy. "I told you to hush up already," Dick said. "Now look what you ve gone and done."
"Go and get him Saddam s gun," Condi said. "You know how he likes to hold it."
Almost makes me want to actually read The Sound and the Fury.
Almost.
Read the entire piece here.
"He needs his makeup," Dick said.
"I ll do it," Condi said. She put a little brush on my check and it tickled and I laughed.
Rummy walked into the room. "Jesus, what s he laughing about," Rummy said.
"Dont you pay attention to him, Georgie," Dick said. "They re going to be asking you all about Social Security. You just remember what we talked about."
"He cant remember anything," Rummy said.
I started to holler. Dick s face was red and he looked at Rummy. "I told you to hush up already," Dick said. "Now look what you ve gone and done."
"Go and get him Saddam s gun," Condi said. "You know how he likes to hold it."
Almost makes me want to actually read The Sound and the Fury.
Almost.
Read the entire piece here.
07 July 2005
Roald Dahl in the New Yorker
The latest New Yorker contains an article about Mr. Willy Wonka's creator:
Roald Dahl, the British author of children’s books, wrote in a tiny cottage at the end of a trellised pathway canopied with twisting linden trees. He called it the "writing hut," and, since Dahl was nearly six feet six, he must have inhabited it like a giant in an elf’s house. Dahl died in 1990, at the age of seventy-four, but one day a year his widow, Felicity, invites children to the estate where he lived, in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, and local families swarm in like guests at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory...
Read the rest.
Roald Dahl, the British author of children’s books, wrote in a tiny cottage at the end of a trellised pathway canopied with twisting linden trees. He called it the "writing hut," and, since Dahl was nearly six feet six, he must have inhabited it like a giant in an elf’s house. Dahl died in 1990, at the age of seventy-four, but one day a year his widow, Felicity, invites children to the estate where he lived, in Great Missenden, Buckinghamshire, and local families swarm in like guests at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory...
Read the rest.
No Summer Reading in Royalton
Just 315 miles from Chicago: ROYALTON, Ill. - Residents of this small southern Illinois city who want something to read over the summer will have to look someplace other than their local public library.
The Franklin County town's library is closed for the summer because of a lack of money. It probably won't reopen until sometime in September after shutting its doors June 10.
Read the rest.
The Franklin County town's library is closed for the summer because of a lack of money. It probably won't reopen until sometime in September after shutting its doors June 10.
Read the rest.
06 July 2005
Cinema for Geeks
I can't wait to see this film!
"The Hollywood Librarian: Librarians in Cinema and Society, now in production, will be the first full-length film to focus on the work and lives of librarians in the entertaining and appealing context of American movies."
Read all about it!
"The Hollywood Librarian: Librarians in Cinema and Society, now in production, will be the first full-length film to focus on the work and lives of librarians in the entertaining and appealing context of American movies."
Read all about it!
Not sure what's going on...
For some reason, there is a humongoid gap between the headline of the most recent blog entry and the actual entry. SIGH. I will strive to figure this out. In the meantime, please be patient. (Of course, if you read this page at all, I guess you must be patient anyway! ;-)
A little bit nervous...
Mark Morford, of the San Francisco Chronicle, is nervous:
Let's just all say it together in one big happy slightly jaded frequently disappointed Hollywood-bitchslapped chorus: I hope they don't freakin' ruin "Narnia."
Me, too.
Read the rest.
Let's just all say it together in one big happy slightly jaded frequently disappointed Hollywood-bitchslapped chorus: I hope they don't freakin' ruin "Narnia."
Me, too.
Read the rest.
'Girl Detectives' Still Draw from Drew
After 75 years, Nancy Drew is still going strong.
I, like many of my peers, couldn't get enough of the Nancy Drew books while growing up. I remember entering a speech contest in 4th grade for which the topic was, "If I could be anyone in the world, it would be..."
Despite the fact that I dreaded public speaking, I entered and spoke about being Carolyn Keene. I so admired this woman who wrote endless exciting mysteries that were read by girls all over the world. To be an author!
It wasn't until I was done with high school and working in my first position as a Youth Services Assistant that I learned the ugly truth. To quote from the article:
"It's hard to imagine the legacy Nancy Drew's creator, Carolyn Keene, could have envisioned for her beloved character — actually, it's impossible. That's because "Carolyn Keene" was and still is a pen name for an evolving group of male and female writers called the Stratemeyer Syndicate."
Part of me is still a smidge bitter.
Sigh.
Anyway, pretty good article on Nancy's endurance. Read the rest.
I, like many of my peers, couldn't get enough of the Nancy Drew books while growing up. I remember entering a speech contest in 4th grade for which the topic was, "If I could be anyone in the world, it would be..."
Despite the fact that I dreaded public speaking, I entered and spoke about being Carolyn Keene. I so admired this woman who wrote endless exciting mysteries that were read by girls all over the world. To be an author!
It wasn't until I was done with high school and working in my first position as a Youth Services Assistant that I learned the ugly truth. To quote from the article:
"It's hard to imagine the legacy Nancy Drew's creator, Carolyn Keene, could have envisioned for her beloved character — actually, it's impossible. That's because "Carolyn Keene" was and still is a pen name for an evolving group of male and female writers called the Stratemeyer Syndicate."
Part of me is still a smidge bitter.
Sigh.
Anyway, pretty good article on Nancy's endurance. Read the rest.
22 June 2005
Only in America...
I swear, when i saw the headine on Yahoo!, I thought maybe my recent lack o' sleep was finally catching up with me. But, no, it's true:
An attempt to erect the world's largest popsicle in a city square ended with a scene straight out of a disaster film, but much stickier.
The 25-foot-tall, 17 1/2-ton popsicle treat of frozen Snapple unexpectedly quickly melted in the midday sun Tuesday, flooding Union Square in downtown Manhattan with pink fluid that sent pedestrians scurrying for higher ground.
Read the rest.
Note: I just watched the video of the story and -- alas! -- it's not nearly so spectacular as I had pictured in my head... (NOTE: If the video link doesn't work, go here and you can see it that way...)
An attempt to erect the world's largest popsicle in a city square ended with a scene straight out of a disaster film, but much stickier.
The 25-foot-tall, 17 1/2-ton popsicle treat of frozen Snapple unexpectedly quickly melted in the midday sun Tuesday, flooding Union Square in downtown Manhattan with pink fluid that sent pedestrians scurrying for higher ground.
Read the rest.
Note: I just watched the video of the story and -- alas! -- it's not nearly so spectacular as I had pictured in my head... (NOTE: If the video link doesn't work, go here and you can see it that way...)
10 June 2005
Not just for Fanboys...
Although I actually happen to love many Fanboys (and have my own collection of boarded and bagged books), I also appreciate that comics and graphic novels are becoming more a part of mainstream publishing. Yahoo has an interesting article on the range of material available in graphic form, from Balzac to Batman.
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