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Below are the most recent 22 friends' journal entries.
| Sunday, November 8th, 2009 |
inhumandecency
|
2:43a |
friday night
Yesterday I went to games night at ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) nfnitperplexity's place. Y'all should come out next time! He gave us tuna stroganoff and kittens. nfnit mentioned some unauthorized modifications he'd made to his Wii, and of course I was curious about how people create the software for that. His friend Xander told us that the process usually starts by searching for a buffer overflow exploit. One of the first to be discovered involved giving a tremendously long name to Link's horse. I wondered aloud whether the programmer responsible for that hole had gotten chewed out. This caused us to realize that somewhere, there is a person whose job was writing validation code for the horse-naming interface. We agreed that this could serve as the official definition of "code monkey." I got home around 11:30 and found that Liza, Steve, and Greg were visiting. I was delighted to spend some time with them, even though I was already really tired. A little after midnight, Mike discovered that Steve had never seen Primer, and declared that we had to have a showing that very moment. It was a bad time for me, but I decided that I couldn't pass up the opportunity to have someone smarter than me explain what the hell was going on in that movie. I wouldn't say I understand it now, but at least I've moved up to a point where I'm not much more confused than anyone else. |
inhumandecency
|
1:39a |
computer teardown
My MacBook's been running slow and overheating lately. I opened it up to see if there was a ton of dust impeding the fan, or if I could reseat the wireless card and get rid of some of my network problems. Nothing. But, due to Apple's ridiculous construction standards, the fact that my computer actually turned on afterward felt like a real triumph! And it only took 90 minutes, not 3 hours like the teardown instructions said. I am not looking forward to the inevitable day when I will have to take apart my iphone. I recently realized that my job satisfaction drops quite substantially when the computer I'm doing all my work on is clunky and unreliable, so I'm less willing than I used to be to put up with decrepit hardware. There are still several software and administration-related things I can try, but soon it might be time to get a new computer. On one hand, that's kind of exciting! On the other, it's darned expensive, and I hate acknowledging that I couldn't fix this one. On the third, it's still twice as long as I've been able to keep any non-apple laptop, so I don't have much reason to complain. |
| Friday, November 6th, 2009 |
gregstoll
|
12:11p |
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| Thursday, November 5th, 2009 |
halseanderson
|
7:22a |
Random thoughts, incl Guy Fawkes, Wintergirls & Neeko
- Do we teach about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 in American schools? Should we?
Remember, remember the fifth of November, - The gunpowder treason and plot,
- I know of no reason
- Why the gunpowder treason
- Should ever be forgot.
And there is the great speech from V Is For Vendetta. My favorite quote, "Words will always retain their power."
LOOK! I buried the lead! WINTERGIRLS made the Publisher's Weekly Best Books of 2009 list!
And from the Misc. List, Bookavore has a great idea for how to get the books you really want.
And the Office Mouse sends us to this video, because even though I loathe baseball, I love Philadelphia, and the city needs some extra hugs today.
Any rap song that can work in a reference to "Benjamin Franklin, 1776" is a good thing.
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| Wednesday, November 4th, 2009 |
gregstoll
|
2:06p |
|
halseanderson
|
12:49p |
Blog appearing soon.
Time has mysteriously condensed again. I have been writing like, well, like a possessed crazy woman who lives in a forest. Tomorrow I hop a plane south so I can speak at the American Association of School Librarians in Charlotte, NC. When I get back, I will have very happy news from overseas to share with you. Until then, keep writing, keep revising, keep scribbling!!! |
gregstoll
|
9:35a |
up yours, Maine
Same-sex marriage lost in Maine 47-53%. Angry profanity-laden rant behind the cut: ( Angry, profanity-laden rant )Hmm, not as profanity-laden as I had thought. Still, I'm mad. On the good news front, Washington's domestic partnerships vote is looking good (they vote by mail so it takes a few days to get final numbers), and Annise Parker (an open lesbian) is in a runoff for Houston mayor. But Maine really stings. Current Mood:  angry |
| Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 |
gregstoll
|
8:36a |
election day!
Not much in Austin is that interesting (but go vote if you haven't already, blah blah blah) - there are a handful of races throughout the country, but the big ones for me are in Maine and Washington. In Maine, same-sex marriage is being put to a vote (after the legislature passed it and governor signed it, it was put on the ballot by a "people's veto"), and in Washington state the same thing is happening with domestic partnerships. Nate Silver thinks keeping same-sex marriage is favored by a little bit in Maine, but the truth is that same-sex marriage has never won when put up to a vote (although domestic partnerships have never lost when put to a vote...interesting, no?) so a victory in Maine would be huuuuge. Really hoping to turn Maine dark green on the marriage map (and turn Washington, um, slightly darker green!) - here's hoping! Current Mood:  unsure |
| Monday, November 2nd, 2009 |
ky_expatriate
|
9:19p |
No, I am not going to lick my toilet.
Here is how the latter part of my afternoon went: Me: Okay, computer, I'm going to ask you to read this dataset of 700 observations, just like you've been doing all afternoon. COMPUTER: ONE OBSERVATION FOUND. Me: No, that's not right -- there are about 700 survey responses. Let's try this again, shall we? COMPUTER: ONE OBSERVATION FOUND. Me: Huh. *Scans code* Okay, there's absolutely nothing different that I can see -- what's wrong with you? *Tries again* COMPUTER: ONE OBSERVATION FOUND. Me: Read it! Read it! Read it! READ IT!!!!!!!!! COMPUTER: ONE OBSERVATION FOUND. Me: I am going to set you on fire and dance in your ashes. COMPUTER: SEVEN HUNDRED OBSERVATIONS FOUND. Me: Good computer. So yeah, that was a frustrating period of time. Not to mention that I have this -- thing? This knot of muscle, in my shoulder. I've had it for years, and suspect it comes from using my right hand exclusively on a mouse/computer touchpad. It's not usually painful, but present and annoying; today, for whatever reason, it's kind of hot and achy. Maybe it's from shaking my fist at my computer. So that's annoying, and then I went to Target tonight to buy toilet bowl cleaner and discovered that certain brands (rhymes with "Whoreox") are advertising that their toilet bowl cleaners kill flu viruses. Which yes, fine, many flu viruses probably get deposited INTO toilets, but what I want to know is how the hell people are fetching them OUT. So I bought the other brand, because I refuse to accept toilets as a flu vector. Current Mood:  tired |
| Sunday, November 1st, 2009 |
halseanderson
|
10:37a |
Happy Writing Month!
November is the month for words - the best one ever. That's why NaNoWriMo takes place starting today.
From their website:
"National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly. Make no mistake: You will be writing a lot of crap. And that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes. To forgo the endless tweaking and editing and just create. To build without tearing down."
I can't do NaNoWriMo this year. I'm doing "Finish These Revisions Before My Editor Kills Me." FiThReBeMiEdKiMe.
I did write a piece for the teen version of the NaNoWriMo site. I'll post the link when it goes live.
Scribble...scribble...scribble...
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| Saturday, October 31st, 2009 |
gregstoll
|
1:36p |
|
halseanderson
|
7:30a |
Kristen Stewart Speaks, a bit
Thanks to everyone who voted for Zoe in the last couple of weeks, and to everyone who put up with me blathering on about voting for Zoe in the last couple of weeks. I'm pretty sure she didn't make the Top 5. We'll know for sure in January. It was a blast to have a book that was even considered breakfast food for the mind; I'm a happy camper. A Facebook Friend (thanks Chris!) pointed me to this interview with Kristen Stewart for Irish television. She mentions playing the lead in the SPEAK movie around the 4:30 mark. Here is a Public Service Announcement Kristen made about college campus security and high rate of sexual assault at colleges. And because I promised someone, here is a shot from the filming of SPEAK. That's me in my world-famous role as "Lunch Lady." Kristen Stewart, as Melinda, is standing with her back to the camera, about to go through the line to get her lunch. This is where my highly acclaimed, tension-filled moment "serves mashed potatoes" occurs. Really, when you think about it, it was the climax to the whole film.  Good Samhain to all! Now our world slips into the dark half of the year. We light candles and tell tales around the fire. |
| Friday, October 30th, 2009 |
halseanderson
|
7:53a |
LAST DAY FOR THE ZOE VOTE!
I'm waiting for my shuttle to the airport, so this is short and simple. (I'll respond to several of YOUR responses to yesterday's health care debacle rant tomorrow.)
You only have until 11:59pm Central Time tonght to vote!!
2. In the bottom right corner, click on MORE BOOKS twice. (Yes, this is the tricky part. No, I don't know why Zoe is buried at the absolute back of the pack. Kind of makes you feel sorry for her, huh?) That will take you to ZOE.
3. Click on the yellow box that says VOTE!
4. Notify every person you have ever met in your entire life to PLEASE VOTE FOR ZOE. I seriously mean that.
5. Do this every day until 11:59 pm Central Time, October 30. It's almost over and then I will stop grovelling and pleading, I promise!
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| Thursday, October 29th, 2009 |
gregstoll
|
4:23p |
|
gregstoll
|
11:13a |
depressing articles about football
One in GQ, and one by Malcolm Gladwell in The New Yorker. Basically, it looks like many linemen in the NFL suffer from Chronic traumatic encephalopathy which has symptoms similar to Alzheimer's. It sounds like the NFL is being very reluctant to investigate or make changes to the game to minimize the risks. Sure, players know the risks of getting injured, but it sounds like people don't realize the risk for CTE and that it seems to be so widespread, and it can ruin your life after you leave the NFL. Head injuries are nothing to mess around with. Current Mood:  bored |
halseanderson
|
5:44a |
Ending with a bang and a rant
I'm pretty sure that tomorrow is the last day you can vote to put Zoe in a Cheerios box (until 11:59pm Central Time). It's not looking so good for our girl, but the whole thing has been a lot of fun. I realized yesterday that all this blogging and thinking about Zoe has led me to dream up a number of new story ideas for her, and that might be the best prize of all. I leave in a little bit for the airport because I'll be speaking In Newark, DE tonight at 6pm. Can you come and see me? If you can't, be sure to tune in to the streaming, live video feed of the event, courtesy of Penguin's Point Of View website! I'll be talking about Wintergirls tonight (a BIG change from Zoe), which makes it appropriate to point out this Book Recommendation Theme I Never Considered for Wintergirls.BIG CHANGE IN TOPICI haven't had a political rant in while, so I hope you'll indulge me. There was a time in America when education was totally private: people who wanted their children to go to school paid for it. Eventually, Americans decided that public education was such an incredible public good, i.e., something everyone benefits from, that we moved to a taxpayer-funded system of education, open to all. And, of course, there are still private schools for families who want to make that choice. There was a time in America when clean water and electricity were available only to the wealthy. The poor pulled up water from wells or dipped buckets into dirty rivers, and lit their homes with candles and lanterns because they had no choice. (My father-in-law, who died in July, did not have electricity on his street until he was 10 years old.) Our fellow citizens argued and grumbled, but eventually decided that it was a benefit to the entire nation if all Americans had access to water and electricity. So programs were put in place, funded in part by taxpayers and in part by consumers, to make that happen. Now the debate has turned to health insurance. My grandparents did not have it when they were young. In the middle of the last century, it became a widespread job benefit, and programs were put in place to insure the vulnerable; elderly, poor and disabled people. There has been a shift. In the past three generations, insurance has moved from the privilege of the rich to something that most Americans consider a basic part of life, like education, electricity, and water. (Please let me know if you disagree with that.) But I am confused. Why is it proving so hard to craft and pass legislation that will accomplish this? I think it's because the chuckleheads in Congress - on both sides of the aisle - are puppets and the insurance companies are pulling the strings. Don't get me wrong - I am all about capitalism. I love capitalism. I am a small business owner and so is my husband and it's working for us. Almost. The Fat Cats have made the playing field uneven. BH and I cannot join any kind of group insurance plan. (We've spent countless hours examining this.) We pay almost $20,000 a year in insurance premiums just for the two of us. I've thought about canceling the policy and setting that money aside for medical emergencies, but I'm a cancer survivor. If I had a recurrence of cancer without insurance, we would lose our house and retirement savings. Am I pissed? Damn straight. One of my three adult kids doesn't have insurance. My friends who have been out of work for too long have no insurance. People who might take the plunge into small business ownership don't because they are afraid to leave their job and give up their health insurance. Americans die and suffer needlessly every day because health care in this country has become a trip to the roulette wheel. The time has come for us to agree that all Americans deserve basic health care coverage - the same for all people in all states. If you want a fancier program with bells and whistles, you can pay extra. The insurance companies have to buck up. When your service is considered a public good - a public necessity - you have to trade in outrageous short-term profits for long-term secure cash flow. If you have decent health coverage through your job, or your parents' or spouse's job, please stop and think. What would happen to your life if you had to pay 20 - 40% of your income for your insurance? How is that fair? ::wipes spittle from face:: I will rant about the evil doings of health insurance companies - denying coverage that people have paid for - another day. What do you think about this? Is health care coverage the new rural electrification? Do we have a right to health care? And now for the last beating of the drum to get Zoe in a Cheerios box:
You only have a day and a half or so to vote!!
2. In the bottom right corner, click on MORE BOOKS twice. (Yes, this is the tricky part. No, I don't know why Zoe is buried at the absolute back of the pack. Kind of makes you feel sorry for her, huh?) That will take you to ZOE.
3. Click on the yellow box that says VOTE!
4. Notify every person you have ever met in your entire life to PLEASE VOTE FOR ZOE. I seriously mean that.
5. Do this every day until 11:59 pm Central Time, October 30. It's almost over and then I will stop grovelling and pleading, I promise!
|
| Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 |
ky_expatriate
|
10:20p |
This is embarrassing...
but I FORGOT my livejournal password. FORGOT IT. Which is a really ridiculous sign of how long it's been since I've logged on to this site. And my ISP address is temporarily blocked due to my repeated attempts to remember it. So I'm having to update from my email. I mean - this is embarrassing. But it's also a sign of how busy I've been, I suppose. After straightening out my little case of mistaken identity last week, I'm finally working as a salaried employee, with an office and everything. No more working from home in my pajamas! Not only that, but I was hired to work on one specific project; I'm now working on four. Which isn't a bad thing - they're all interesting, and they're forcing me to brush off my somewhat dusty statistical and programming skills. But I suddenly find myself with a lot less time. Never mind checking gawker.com fourteen times a day -- now I feel like I barely have time to send a personal email. Which is weird, but kind of refreshing in a way. I have meetings! Deadlines! Projects! Phone calls to East Africa! And I'm sure that in two weeks I'll be moaning about how overworked I am and how I can't wait for a vacation, but for the moment, I'm having fun :) |
ali_wildgoose
|
5:35p |
In which I'm tentatively optimistic in regards to tiny!Zuko and my account of his Adventures
YET AGAIN I'm a few days away from a deadline and completely freaking out (which in this case involved running away to my mom's place on Cape Cod in an attempt to prune distractions) BUT! I wanted to emerge long enough to share a mini-update on what's going on with the Zuko!Prequel! SO UH...you know, with these things it's impossible to say what will happen or what problems will come up until the books are printed and on shelves. But right now I'm pretty optimistic! We SEEM to have gotten the script through the approval process with only a few, small changes, and (fingers crossed) hopefully the same will be true for space_coyote's completely fantastic pencils. (seriously, I get little shivers of joy just flipping through these things. I feel like between her and yaytime I've won the Awesome Goddamn Collaborator sweepstakes.) Dave and I wrote a book about Zuko being sent away on his tiny boat and struggling to find his place in the world and having adventures with handsome outlaws and sitting beside his uncle on hillsides while they talk about family and loss, and somehow we actually managed to shepherd the thing (INTACT!) through all the obstacles that invariably turn up with projects like this one, and OH MY GOD YOU GUYS I THINK IT MAY ACTUALLY BE OKAY? MAYBE? Again: fingers crossed. I'm still ready for it all to collapse in on itself in a horrific black hole of awful. But I can't help but savor the little glimmers of hope. So anyway...ANYWAY! I mentioned before that there's an Amazon page up already, which remains pretty great. But today I discovered that I apparently have an author page on the Random House website as well! Given that early on in this process I was usually left off of press releases and forgotten about in panels, it's all the more rewarding to have that dumb little page to open up and gaze upon like an idiot. You guys. YOU GUYS. THIS MAY ACTUALLY BE OKAY. *_______* |
halseanderson
|
8:48a |
TEACHER/LIBRARIAN ALERT & DETERMINATION
I am going to try and steal as much writing time as I can today, so this will be short and sweet.
Want to hang out with me? Meet me at 6pm tomorrow night (10/29) at the Border's in Newark, DE, where I'll be talking about Wintergirls, answering questions, and probably drinking hot tea.
You can't make it to Delaware? Have no fear. You can watch a live, streaming video of the occasion on the Penguin POV website. You can even send in a question for me to answer. ZOE UPDATE & FREE FICTION!
Zoe is sad. Her hair droops and drizzles and trails behind her on the sidewalk. Her sad hair picks up fallen leaves and twigs and discarded acorn tops. Zoe's chances of making it inside a Cheerios box are grim; she has been bumped out of the top five. There are a couple of other books in the running that are friends of hers (ALL THE WORLD and T-REX IN THE LIBRARY), so that makes her feel better. A little better. Not much, honestly.
Zoe's hair snags on a tree root that has broken through the sidewalk. (you have to imagine the artwork, it's too early to wake up Ard and ask him to draw something.)
Zoe stops. Zoe stares.
Her hair twines around the root of the tree.
Zoe turns around. This tree - this magnificent, splendiferous, amazing tree, did not let a little thing like a concrete sidewalk keep it from reaching for the sky.
"We won't either!" Zoe shouts.
Zoe's hair bounces back. It curls, it swirls, it zooms!
Zoe decides that no matter how hard the fight, how high the odds, she will never give up.
You can't give up either. You only have TWO MORE DAYS to vote!! You can put Zoe back in the Cheerios box where she belongs!!
1. Copy and paste the suggestions and voting guidelines below and send them to everyone you know. Post a link to your Twitter. Put it in your Facebook and Myspace status lines. Tweet. Shout. Storm. Spread the news - only two more days to help our favorite redhead!
2. Become a fan of Zoe on Facebook.
3. Go to Zoe's website and play the Hair Basket Game while you are waiting for your friends to write back and thank you for sending them such an excellent suggestion.
AND, OF COURSE, VOTE!!
2. In the bottom right corner, click on MORE BOOKS twice. (Yes, this is the tricky part. No, I don't know why Zoe is buried at the absolute back of the pack. Kind of makes you feel sorry for her, huh?) That will take you to ZOE.
3. Click on the yellow box that says VOTE!
4. Notify every person you have ever met in your entire life to PLEASE VOTE FOR ZOE. I seriously mean that.
5. Do this every day until 11:59 pm Central Time, October 30. That is only a few more days!
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| Tuesday, October 27th, 2009 |
halseanderson
|
6:12a |
TERRIBLE NEWS & GREAT NEWS
THE TERRIBLE NEWS - UPDATE ON THE ZOE VOTE:
For the first time since the contest began, Zoe has been kicked out of the top five! How did this happen?
Micheal Ian Black. He is a comedian, and actor, a Twitterer with over one million followers, and the author of The Purple Kangaroo. He seems nice enough, but man, oh man, is his book putting the big hurt on Zoe: his book has kicked Zoe out of the the top five!!
The top five books in the competition will make it into Cheerios boxes, so Zoe still has a chance, but only if you can spare her a few seconds today and every day through the end of the week.
HOW TO VOTE:
1. Go to the voting page.
2. In the bottom right corner, click on MORE BOOKS twice. (Yes, this is the tricky part. No, I don't know why Zoe is buried at the absolute back of the pack. Kind of makes you feel sorry for her, huh?) That will take you to ZOE.
3. Click on the yellow box that says VOTE!
4. Notify every person you have ever met in your entire life to PLEASE VOTE FOR ZOE. Yes, I seriously mean that.
5. Do this every day until the end of October. That is only a few more days!
NOW, FOR THE THE GREAT NEWS Today's Guest Blogger prefers to remain anonymous, so we'll just call him a Friend of the Forest, which he is, indeed. He was curious about this program that gets books into boxes of Cheerios, so he did a bit of digging. He wrote the following letter and gave me permission to post it. "Waking Up with Cheerios
This is an apology to Laurie, Liz Scanlon, and about six million children.
Last week, when Scanlon posted here and wished Laurie good luck in the contest, I wrote back to her and said, “I haven’t read your book, but the cover is captivating. Cheerios probably won't be marking what books are in what boxes, so if I don’t get ZOE on my first few tries, I hope I get ALL THE WORLD.”
I actually thought I’d be doing a good thing by buying all those boxes. But, looking back on it now, I was wrong. I was wrong about a lot of things.
First, you can actually see inside the Cheerios boxes. I haven’t bought cereal for ages, and I didn’t know, but that is a cool way to do it so that kids don’t get two of the same book. Kudos to Cheerios for that.
What really woke me up, though, is when I wondered how exactly these six million books are paid for. I knew the authors didn’t get royalties, but someone had to pay for the printing, and the Spoonfuls of Stories page didn’t tell me much at all.
So I started searching and soon I found this site.
I was blown away – Cheerios has been doing this for eight years and so far has donated 3.2 million dollars of its own money to put 40 million books in their boxes. How cool is that?
I kept reading, and soon I realized the whole point of Spoonfuls of Stories isn’t to promote the books or even Cheerios. It’s to get books to kids who don’t have books. In short, I’d missed the entire point.
Well, I kept reading and discovered that the ones behind it all are the folks at First Book. So I went to the First Book site, and while it’s difficult for many of us to believe that so many children don’t have books of their own, here’s the facts:
* A recent study shows that while in middle income neighborhoods the ratio of books per child is 13 to 1, in low-income neighborhoods, the ratio is 1 age-appropriate book for every 300 children.
* 80% of preschool and after-school programs serving low-income populations have no age-appropriate books for their children.
All of a sudden I felt very small. Like I’d heard a diner was giving away free books, gone in and grabbed a bunch, and then on the way out happened to look up and see a sign saying it’s a soup kitchen. Meaning those books just might be these kids’ only chance to get books all year. Something they can take home, call their own, and read again and again. Opening up an entire world for them and giving them the skills they need.
I’d been thinking of only what I could get, even when I can perfectly afford to buy ZOE and ALL THE WORLD and so give the authors something in return. And meanwhile here’s countless volunteers at First Book delivering millions of books to children in need.
I felt like the biggest schmuck in ALL THE WORLD.
So right then I decided to donate to First Book and help promote their work. And to say yes, root for your favorite authors’ books, and yes, get your vote in each day, ‘cause the contest is still very cool, just now for a much better reason.
As Liz Scanlon says in her own post about the contest, “The book choices are all mighty fine so I'm not worried either way – it's just flat-out goodness for the kids.”
And it’s true. In the face of what the contest does, it doesn’t matter who wins. It only matters that First Book continues, and in that everyone can help.
One way to do that is to go to The Literacy Site. I’ve actually been clicking on every tab on that page for years, and never knew till today, when reading down through it, that it’s backed by none other than First Book.
Also, if you do pick up a box of Cheerios, another way to help is through the donation form on the side. An easy way to say thanks for the book and for all the work First Book and Cheerios do.
Jon Scieszka sums up their mission well: “From my perspective as an author, a teacher, and a dad, what Cheerios is doing through this Spoonfuls of Stories program is exactly and spectacularly right.”"
Me, again. THANK YOU, Friend of the Forest, for the research and the reminder of what really matters. What matters is that children will have books in their hands, books that are just as important to their growing minds as breakfast is for their growing bodies. It will be fun if my book is included, but the really awesome part is that this program gets books to children and when that happens, we all win.
TOMORROW: I MIGHT HAVE TO ANNOUNCE PLANS THAT I, TOO, WILL BECOME A COMEDIAN AND ACTOR TO ATTRACT ONE MILLION FOLLOWERS ON TWITTER AND BOOST MY CAREER AS A CHILDREN'S AUTHOR.
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| Monday, October 26th, 2009 |
halseanderson
|
8:53a |
DAY 12 OF THE ZOE VOTE & .... TIDBIT DAY, W/JAPANESE!
I have a couple of tidbits I've been wanting to share with you, so get your pens and paper ready. 1. Congratulations to Professor Annette Gordon-Reed for winning prize after exquisite prize for her incredible, important, must-be-read-by-all-Americans book, The Hemingses of Monticello. In addition to taking last year's National Book Award for Non-Fiction, and the Pulitzer for History earlier this year, it was recently announced that Hemingses was awarded the Frederick Douglass Book Prize, awarded for the best book written in English on slavery or abolition. 2. Christopher Moore, curator of the Schomberg Center and one of the generous vetters for Chains, has written a book with his eight-year-old son Matthew based on a 400 million-year-old boulder that is now in a park near their home in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. The book is not published yet, but the story has been turned into a musical, Matthew Takes Mannahatta, which opened last weekend. Bravo! 3. An independent bookseller (who is NOT my daughter) has written an open letter to all authors about the vital bookseller-author relationship. Please read it.4. The first two books of my Vet Volunteers series have been translated into Japanese!!! Squeeeeeeeee!  Covers!!  They have ILLUSTRATIONS!! How cool is that? And that is all the Tidbits from the Forest today. UPDATE ON THE ZOE VOTE AND THOUGHTS ON BREAKFAST TABLE READING:I know you guys are getting sick of this, but the contest is almost over. Zoe still needs one vote a day, every day, if she is to stand a chance at winding up in a box of Cheerios next year. When I was a kid, I lived in a house that had the most ridiculous rule in the world: no reading at the breakfast table. This meant that I read the cereal box obsessively. I can still recite way too many lists of ingredients. When I grew up and became The Boss, I made a new rule: you MUST bring a book to the breakfast table. And now, because all the stars are lining up, one my books - THE HAIR OF ZOE FLEEFENBACHER GOES TO SCHOOL - could be the book that winds up on a million breakfast tables. This is most important to me because a lot of the kids who get a book in their cereal live in families who don't have the extra money for books. Because of this fun contest, if they eat a good breakfast, they get a free book. That is pretty cool. But Zoe still needs your vote. Please! HOW TO VOTE:
1. Go to the voting page.
2. In the bottom right corner, click on MORE BOOKS twice. (Yes, this is the tricky part. No, I don't know why Zoe is buried at the absolute back of the pack. Kind of makes you feel sorry for her, huh?) That will take you to ZOE.
3. Click on the yellow box that says VOTE!
4. Notify all of your friends, neighbors, family members, the folks at church or temple or mosque or other house of faith, the rest of the PTA, the people at the firehouse, everyone in your classroom, and tell them all pretty, pretty please with a headful of unruly red hair, PLEASE VOTE FOR ZOE.
5. Do this every day until the end of October. That is only a few more days!
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| Sunday, October 25th, 2009 |
halseanderson
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12:00p |
DAY 11 OF THE ZOE VOTE & MY HERO, SARAH JOSEPHA HALE
Thank you all so very much for the lovely birthday wishes. It was a delightful and merry day and I loved hearing from all of youse guys. Yesterday was also important birthday in the Forest: the 221st birthday of one of my all-time favorite Americans: Sarah Josepha Hale. Yes, THAT Sarah Josepha Hale; the woman whom I wrote about in Thank You, Sarah: The Woman Who Saved Thanksgiving! We've just updated the website to share new material with you about Sarah, including a birthday essay written about her by Queen Louise and a game. Check out the updates and tell me what you think! UPDATE ON THE ZOE VOTE:Thank you so much for voting once a day, every day! Last I heard, Zoe had moved back into fourth place. Fourth is a lovely place, indeed. But there are still seven days left in the voting, so this contest is not over, not by a long shot. I am spending today in my writing cottage, working on this draft of my next historical, FORGE. If you want to cheer me on and encourage me to keep the words dripping from my fingertips, the best way you can do that is to vote. Please! HOW TO VOTE:
1. Go to the voting page.
2. In the bottom right corner, click on MORE BOOKS twice. (Yes, this is the tricky part. No, I don't know why Zoe is buried at the absolute back of the pack. Kind of makes you feel sorry for her, huh?) That will take you to ZOE.
3. Click on the yellow box that says VOTE!
4. Notify all of your friends, neighbors, family members, the folks at church or temple or mosque or other house of faith, the rest of the PTA, the people at the firehouse, everyone in your classroom, and tell them all pretty, pretty please with a headful of unruly red hair, PLEASE VOTE FOR ZOE.
5. Do this every day until the end of October.
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chipper
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energetic
