My Current Books and Movies List

A Drowned Maiden's Hair: A Melodrama---This book just won a CYBIL award, which is this award for children's literature that was created by all these bloggers. I'm liking it so far. I predict I'll finish it before Sunday.

The Battle of Jericho--I'm not really into this one. I might skim read it, just to find out what happens to these teenagers, but I'm not hooked.

Silent Thunder--non-fiction about elephants. I'll finish this one. It's a captivating read about everything elephant: communication, social structures, ecology, etc. etc.

Dear Mem Fox, I Have Read All Your Books, Even the Pathetic Ones--I was expecting a book similar to Radical Reflections, which I really loved, but this is more like a memoir, with lots and lots of stories about her personal life. It's too early to say if I'll finish it. Maybe.

To Remain An Indian: Lessons in Democracy from a Century of Native American Education-- well, I'll finish this, cuz it's for this professor book club that I agreed to be part of, but I don't think I'll enjoy it much. It's quite depressing. I might learn something useful, though. We'll see.

God Laughs & Plays--I bought this out of pure loyalty to David James Duncan. It's not his best work, and that's being kind. I'll finish it, though, cuz I really am a DJD groupie.

Teacher Man--I'm listening to this teaching memoir on DVD. I'm enjoying the performance so far.

United 93---I might watch this one tonight, to get the blasted hours to disappear already. I am so anxious to get into my new classroom tomorrow--it's like fifty Christmas Eve's all smashed together right now.

The Fallen--this is an escapist mystery book, which I will certainly finish, maybe even tonight. The main cop character has this interesting, but believable ability--a kind of sythesisia that makes him see people talk in colorful shapes that tell their emotions and whether or not they're telling lies.


Five people were shot and killed last night at Trolley Square. The shooter was a Bosnian immigrant teenager that lived near our home, here in Rose Park. I don't know what a blog equivalent of a moment of silence might be, but here's mine:







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3 Quotes

You were made and set here to give voice to this, your astonishment.

-Annie Dillard


The ocean is really huge. When you get out on a little boat, you know it. You're clinging to a cork … And out there, rolling around and swimming through and perfectly at home in the waves are these enormous animals. And by golly, they're singing … And so what that has done for me is to make me feel that what lies ahead is absolutely limitless. We are not at the pinnacle of human knowledge. We are just beginning.

-Katy Payne


I would gasp, kneel, and ache in admiration before the altar of these tiny human souls, all day, if not for the bizarre confusion such wild acts would engender in their spongy little minds.

-Amy Simbe

Saturday Chores

Harriet hates doing "Saturday Chores". She's developed this opinion based on characters on Disney channel programs and books like 100 Ways to Bug Your Parents. So, her solution, to this dislike, for the last two weeks, has been to thoroughly clean the entire house on Friday afternoons, before I even get home from work. She knows, of course, that the house must be cleaned each week, but figures that by doing it all by herself, on Fridays, she can help us all avoid the dreaded "Saturday Chores." What a delightful and wonderful child, that one.

I'm smack in the midst of breaking a resolution to stay off the computer for 24 hours and get some reading done already. But it's okay, cuz I've read a lot today. I'll blog in my book and movie blog about some of the books I've been reading, and I've ordered two amazing new picture books for birthday gifts (but I can't say for whom!).

Suzette wasn't at our last writing group meeting, but she asked me to email her my "spiritual moment" essay, which I did. She marked it up, very thoughtfully, and sent it back to me as a PDF. In addition to having feedback and an audience, the best thing about writing group is that it's encouraging me to become more and more interested in and thoughtful about the writing process. I've been reading a lot of books about reading and writing. This reading, and the ensuing conversations, have led me to begin to develop a new sense of myself as a writer. They've led me to rewire some of my internal maps in ways that I think are leading me to become a more focused and stronger writer. For example, I've become certain that the two genres in which I will be able to create some quality (possibly publishable) writing, in the next year or so, are essays about teaching, and short stories or fiction for ten-year-olds.

Here's one funny irony about the role I see myself assuming as "a writer": I really want a funky, spicy, bohemian type of writer's notebook. I imagine this notebook to be full of sketches, new words, poem fragments, and quirky observations. But I also adore this new pearly white mac that has become my constant companion. And I'm far more comfortable typing out my thoughts, than I am writing them out long hand. Although, it must be said, I often have more developed and careful thinking when I'm writing long hand, because I'm forced to S--L--O--W D--O--W--N. Maybe I can have both. A funky writing notebook, and a stylish lap top. Both.

Jessie update: he's still with us, he's still being brave and strong, and the one thing I wished most for him, around Christmas time, he has been given: a positive male role model in the form of Mr. Chatter, my brilliant student teacher.