Jen Bryant & Melissa Sweet: A River of Words

This weekend, my sister and I went to a fabulous party to celebrate the recent Caldecott Honor given to Melissa Sweet for her picture book A River of Words: The Story of William Carlos Williams.

What a blast! First of all, there were crazy party hats. You *have* to head over to Cynthia Lord's blog and read the story of the hats. (You can even scroll down to see a picture of me in my somewhat floppy hat.)

Second, there was a collage room. Beth and I worked diligently over a goofy collage involving plums, a flamingo, and *lots* of pink glitter (and no, I was not one of the pint-sized glitter gnomes that Cynthia mentions in her post). We were pretty satisfied with it until we looked up and saw some of the amazing (seriously, I mean frame-worthy!) pieces of art that were being created in that room.

Awed, we headed out to the main gallery area where we could partake in an activity we are much more talented at: making a mess while eating delicious cupcakes!

The best part of the party was the original artwork displayed on the walls. It was fascinating to see Melissa Sweet's collages in their original form, each intricate piece stacked on top of another, not perfectly flat and seamless like they appear in the book. Melissa signed my book and took the time to be gracious, kind, and warm to everyone in that long line.

Which brings me to the book. I was so excited when A River of Words came out because I love William Carlos Williams' poetry, and I've always thought that his use of the everyday, ordinary happenings and objects in our lives makes his work accessible to kids.

A River of Words tells the story of William Carlos Williams' upbringing, his choice to become a doctor, his friendships with other modernist poets like Ezra Pound, and H.D. The intricate illustrations merge the inspiration he found all around him (water, pastoral landscapes, roads) with his everyday life (bits of poems scratched on prescription orders, receipts, memo pads from his office).

I've always been interested in William Carlos Williams' story because he had a full life both as a successful doctor and a famous poet. It's inspiring and important to remember that we don't all fit into one neat box, as society often tells us. The "artsy" kid might just as easily also love math. The "science geek" or the "jock" might just as easily be able to create brilliant works of art. William Carlos Williams reminds us that we are all multi-faceted, and we all have the ability to see the beauty and the strangeness in the everyday world right in front of our eyes.

There's a great interview with Melissa Sweet over at A Year of Reading. Here's a sample of what she has to say about making the collages for A River of Words:

MS: This book had a woefully skimpy dummy and not many sketches. Although I had done extensive reading about WCW and visited his town, I was beginning to panic. I didn’t have a handle on how to render this book. The deadline was on the heels of Tupelo and I was feeling almost out of gas. I had saved some beautiful end boards from an old book with a subtle print and a good quality paper. I tried painting on it and it worked great. Then I tried using book boards as my canvases instead of starting on paper. It was just the thing I needed to propel me. It was new and fresh and I had such momentum from it. I’ve been buying old books, notebooks, atlases for years and for this project I used whatever I wanted—nothing was saved for another project. The collages are done like a painting. I start with a background, then add more objects and push things around until I feel it’s done. I approach it as a design problem so I’m considering the colors, composition etc. When I collect or buy collage materials I don’t necessarily know how I’ll utilize them. I just know I have to have them.

Grab Bag Friday: Operation Fairy Dust

George Bailey: That's some dress, Violet.

Violet: Oh, this old thing? Why, I only wear it when I don't care how I look!

Spring is almost here! The 16 degree (feels like 9) temperature outside tells me otherwise, but I choose to believe the calendar.

We all know two things are inevitable in Spring:

1. Spring cleaning
2. Spring dances

I read recently about a brilliant organization that is ready and waiting to help with both. It's easy:

1. Clean out your closet and set aside your old prom and bridesmaid dresses that you'll (truly) never wear again.
2. Send them to Operation Fairy Dust, where they will be donated to a girl who can't afford one.

Operation Fairy Dust is based out of New York City, but if you prefer, you can make the same impact in your own community by donating your dresses to the local Goodwill or thrift shop. Or just ask around. Even if you think your dress is outdated, just remember..."vintage" is back in style (haven't you seen the legwarmers the past couple of winters?)

Though prom dresses were never my thing, I have to say, this is a *great* idea. (Ok, so I wore my Converse high tops and a crazy fringed shawl to my prom, but that's another story...)

A Little Musical Nostalgia Never Hurt Anyone

My brother sent this video for nostalgia's sake earlier this week. It's amazing how hearing a song can bring you immediately back to a specific moment in time. When I was 13, I used to blast this as loud as my pink mini-boombox would go and bop around my room, complete with fake microphone in my hand and permed ponytail bouncing around its neon scrunchie. I can practically smell the Lip Smackers right now.

So what song were *you* bopping around to in your room when you were a kid?

Willa Cather: My Antonia

"Nothing happened. I did not expect anything to happen. I was something that lay under the sun and felt it, like the pumpkins, and I did not want to be anything more. I was entirely happy. Perhaps we feel like that when we die and become a part of something entire, whether it is sun and air, or goodness and knowledge. At any rate, that is happiness; to be dissolved into something complete and great. When it comes to one, it comes as naturally as sleep."

My friend Blueberry lent me this book over Christmas and for a long time, it sat on my coffee table, waiting to be read. Friends would walk into the living room and express genuine shock that it has taken me until age 33 to read My Antonia. "How is that possible?" What can I say? It simply hadn't entered my universe before.

I picked it up on a dull, snowy day. The kind of day perfectly described in the book, in fact: "Winter lies too long in country towns; hangs on until it is stale and shabby, old and sullen." The story is told in the voice of Jim Burden, an orphaned boy who is brought to Nebraska to live with his grandparents in the late 19th century. Antonia and her family are immigrants from Bohemia who have come to farm the land adjacent to the Burdens. Far from the American opportunity and promise they set out to find, their living situation is untenable, and they encounter struggles in the new world that they never would have imagined.

Willa Cather's prose is incredibly rich. She sets the Midwestern countryside ablaze with sunshine and lights up each individual blade of grass. Your mind can't help but hold a nostalgic, detailed picture of Antonia, her ragged dress, the dusty pioneer town, the dances, the starlight, the heat.

My Antonia is a portrait of pioneer life, and especially of the demands and struggles that confronted women of that time period. It is a reflection on nostalgia, friendship, endurance, and love. It's the kind of book you want to read again as soon as you've finished it. It's the kind you want to pass on to your friends and exclaim "What do you mean you haven't read this yet?" And even as you say it, you're just a little bit jealous. Because you know that when they open it, they'll get to meet Antonia for the first time, they'll get to run through the prairie grass, and be surprised and warmed by that deep, rich sunshine.

Grab Bag Friday: A Little Friday Humor

Here are three videos that made me smile this week.

My sister, Steph, sent me this one and I roared. I love the airplane bit at the end:



I came across this one on the blog As The World Stearns. It's another clip from Improv Everywhere. These people are creative geniuses.



Lastly, this one is Improv Everywhere's latest mission. I just love how quickly a simple thing like a high five can put smiles on people's faces. When these people get on the escalator, they're dour, lost in their own little worlds (like we all are half the time). When they get off, more than half of them are grinning, interacting, enjoying the moment. Think about that. It's brillant. What can you do to brighten somebody's day today?

M Ward: Rave On

This week, I've been enjoying listening to M. Ward's new album, Hold Time. I started listening to it when I was doing some paperwork, so I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, just enjoying his typical dreamy, groovy, somewhat nostalgic vibe.

But a few songs in, I had to put down my pencil and grin.

Was this really an M. Ward version of Rave On? Seriously?

Now how cool is that?



Original version:

Grab Bag Friday: Mixed Bag

A few random things today:

• It's been snowing so much around here that I'm beginning to think it will never melt! Our walkway to our house is now this narrow little path up to my waist. We took pictures, but I haven't uploaded them to my computer yet, but I'll try to post some soon. The photo below is from a local news story about this week's storm. It's pretty much what my street looked like on Monday.

• Please consider taking a moment today to donate to your state or local equivalent of Keep Maine Warm. Often, donations to programs like this can taper off as Winter wanes, but as much as I'd like to be in denial, we're still a long way from Spring! There are still many people in places like Northern Maine who are going to be in severe need of heating assistance over the next few weeks.

• There is a nice write up in the Bowdoin Orient today about my concert on Sunday. (Maybe I'll see you there!)

• Thanks so much to Cynthia Lord for choosing me for her surprise pick in her top 12 this week (even though I'm not even on American Idol!) If you haven't read Cynthia's book, Rules, you really ought to head down to the library or the bookstore right this second. Seriously. Go ahead and cancel your plans for the rest of the morning.
  

Concert Sunday: My Big Band Dreams, Realized

As any of you who know me are well aware of, I grew up on the Andrews Sisters and Bing Crosby. When I was in high school, I was in love with the Glenn Miller Orchestra and Anita O'Day and Doris Day (I was also in love with Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins, but hey, I've always been an eclectic kind of girl.)

While my classmates were out at field parties in the summer, my friends and I were hosting (very small) big band parties, equipped with candles and 1940's style outfits and outdoor dancing to Pennsylvania 6-5000.

So when Bowdoin College's concert band asked me to do a show with them and sing some old Gershwin standards in the *gorgeous* new Studzinski Auditorium, I was an eensy bit excited.

If you're going to be in Maine this weekend, you can come watch me live out my dreams of being a 1940's big band singer:

Sunday, March 1st
2:00pm
Studzinski Auditorium, Bowdoin College
Free and open to the public

Here's one of the songs I'm going to sing:

Ezra Jack Keats: The Snowy Day

First off, I have to apologize for being so sporadic with my blog this month. Usually, I look forward to writing Black History Month posts because I love to honor the black writers and musicians who have been such important voices in our country's history. Suffice it to say, life has gotten more hectic than usual this month and I'll be back on my game in a week or so. :)

Secondly, it's maybe a little unconventional to feature two white children's book authors as part of my Black History Month series, but I love Chris Raschka's treatment of Charlie Parker (last week's post) and this week's feature, Ezra Jack Keats, played a huge role in giving African American children a central, important place in kid's literature.

Until The Snowy Day (published in 1963), American children's books featured white children as the heroes (if you know of one that didn't, I'd love to hear about it). In the biography on his website, Ezra Jack Keats says:

Then began an experience that turned my life around—working on a book with a black kid as hero. None of the manuscripts I’d been illustrating featured any black kids—except for token blacks in the background. My book would have him there simply because he should have been there all along.

Besides being culturally groundbreaking, opening up children's literature to some of the marginalized citizens in our society, The Snowy Day is a beautiful book that perfectly captures the wonder and joy that can be found outside on a snowy day (yes, even in the city!)

A couple years ago, Kevin took me to the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art for my birthday, and we got to see original pages from this book. It was amazing to see the original cutouts, watercolor, and collage in person. Illustrations that looked like a consistent whole in the published book turned out to be separate pieces of paper fit and intricately glued together. It just goes to show, things that seem so polished and perfect always have an underside with details we can't even begin to imagine.

With that in mind, I'll close with a story on Keats' website that I loved. Keats was in school during the Depression, and his father tried to discourage him from focusing on art. He wanted him to do something more practical that would earn money. In 1935, when Keats' father died of a heart attack, he had to go through his father's belongings:

"I found myself staring deep into his [my father’s] secret feelings. There in his wallet were worn and tattered newspaper clippings of the notices of the awards I had won. My silent admirer and supplier, he had been torn between his dread of my leading a life of hardship and his real pride in my work."

Stevie Wonder: Never Had a Dream Come True

In the *biggest* news this week (around my house anyway), there was a new addition to the Hatchet Cove Farm family! In honor of Cecelia Jane's birth, here is the Stevie Wonder song that I sang at her parents' wedding.

I never, never had a dream come true
In my every dream, I'm loved by you

Welcome to the world, Cecelia Jane. I hope your dreams will be filled with laughter and sunshine and music and good, green, growing things. And I know they will come true.

Chris Raschka: Charlie Parker Played Be Bop

There are a few books that I find myself buying over and over again. I always end up giving away my copy, or thinking of another person who *needs* to have it. Charlie Parker Played Be Bop is definitely in that category.

On the surface, Chris Raschka's illustrations are so full of color and whimsy that you want to linger on each page a moment, just to breathe it in. But beyond that, Charlie Parker Played Be Bop is one of those rare books that can actually make you feel what the author is describing (in this case, be bop).

In some ways (like be bop), there's not much to it. There are rarely more than 5 or 6 words per page, and many of the phrases are repeated over and over again. But Raschka uses rhythm and rhyme in ways that are both satisfyingly predictable and completely surprising. By the time you get to:

Alphabet, alphabet, alphabet, alph,
Chickadee, chickadee, chickadee, chick,
Overshoes, overshoes, overshoes, o,
Reeti-footi, reeti-footi, reeti-footie, ree

you can practically hear the saxophone in your ear and you want to tap your foot and dance along. It's impossible to read this book out loud and not start to put some *swing* into it. Every single time I have read this book to my students they immediately respond with a resounding, "Read it again!"

Grab Bag Friday: No Pants Day

I love that there are goofy, creative people out there who are willing to do things like this. This little project involved 2500 people in 22 cities all over the world.

Thanks to Fuse #8 for turning me on to Color Me Katie. It just goes to show you that a small amount of effort can make the world a more whimsical place. For instance, last Friday, Color Me Katie planted colorful butterflies all over the city. Love it.

Andrew Bird: Noble Beast Tour

This weekend, Kevin and I were ridiculously excited to find out that Andrew Bird was coming to the college we work at. Somehow, we managed to find a couple students who weren't going to use their tickets (I was sure *no one* would want to give them up), and we tried not to look too old as we walked into the packed auditorium (we also had to hide a couple yawns around 10pm when the rest of the audience was apparently just getting *started* with their evening).

The show was phenomenal, and you should definitely check out the tour dates. I've been a fan of Andrew Bird since he was Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire in the late 90's, but I've never seen him live. So it was fun to see little details in person. (Like, oh! that eerie background part is actually Andrew Bird whistling!) The set was perfectly whimsical, with Alice-in-Wonderland-sized, brightly colored phonograph-style speakers hovering over the musicians. The performance was terrific. Apparently, he had been trying to kick a fever for the last few days, and still he threw himself into the songs like he had all the energy in the world.

But the most striking thing about seeing Andrew Bird live was the extensive looping. He would play a few bars, loop it (which basically means you've created a recording of it that comes back over and over again through the speakers), loop something else over that, and so on until you felt like you were just being washed over with sound. If you don't know what I'm talking about, you can see it in this video. The first thing that he plays comes back again and again, and he's playing and looping more things over it as it goes along. The result was breathtaking.



Here's Natural Disaster, another song I like off Andrew Bird's new album, Noble Beast, that he played at the show:

Grab Bag Friday: Turtle Bread

We had another snow day this week. When I was a kid, I used to actually feel *sorry* for the kids who lived in warm places like Florida and California...they never got to have any snow days! Snow days were like a gift from heaven. My sisters and brother and I would build snow tunnels (yes, the snow was *that* deep and packable), or stay in our pajamas all day, or most often, bake.

One year, my brother got on a Turtle Bread kick. He found the recipe in the Betty Crocker cookbook, and he'd make turtle after turtle (and we would gobble them up faster than he could make them!) We loved to watch the bread rise, taste the raw dough (I know, gross, huh?), smell the bread cooking in the oven, and we especially loved to eat the little turtle feet.

This is a great introductory bread recipe for kids. Even if you're one of those poor souls who don't get snow days, I hope you'll enjoy making it:

Turtle Bread

2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
1 package quick active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 egg
2 raisins

In large bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups of the flour, the yeast, sugar and salt; set aside.

In 1-quart saucepan, heat water, milk and butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally, to 125°F to 130°F; stir into yeast mixture. Stir in egg. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle. On lightly floured surface, knead dough about 5 minutes or until smooth and springy. Cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Lightly grease cookie sheet with shortening or spray with cooking spray. Shape a 2-inch piece of dough into a ball for turtle’s head. Shape 4 walnut-size pieces of dough into balls for feet. Shape 1 walnut-size piece of dough into tail. Shape remaining dough into ball for turtle body; place on cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Attach head, feet and tail by placing 1 end of each under edge of body to secure. Press raisins into head for eyes. Cover and let rise in warm place 20 minutes.

Heat oven to 400°F. Make 1/4-inch-deep circular cut around top edge of body, then make crisscross cuts in center to look like a turtle's shell. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Refrigerating dough is not recommended.

ALA Awards, Running Behind, & Stevie Ray Vaughan

I'm totally off-schedule and running behind this week.

I was planning to post about the Newbery and Caldecott Award winners on Monday. I was planning to spend some time listening to Andrew Bird's new album to review here today. There's a big pile of clean laundry on the couch, and a bigger pile of dirty laundry in the basement.

It's been that kind of week and it's only Wednesday.

So instead of doing *any* of those things tonight, I procrastinated on YouTube, found the video of Stevie Ray Vaughan's brilliant song Tick Tock, and a cool video of Stevie Ray and his brother Jimmie talking about making their album Family Style.

I love the shot of Stevie Ray and Jimmie playing the double neck guitar, and I *love* the quote at the end where Stevie Ray is talking about how much closer he and his brother became during the making of the album..."I really needed that." There's nothing like family to get you through.

Grab Bag Friday: Cold Is Relative

Okay, we can all admit to succumbing to the charms of the occasional forwarded message. My dad (in Wisconsin) just sent me this one, and maybe it's because the weather has been dipping below zero around here and freezing my brain cells, but it struck me as hilarious.

A lot of it, by the way, is not *that* much of an exaggeration--my sisters have totally sunbathed at 60, and my husband has used the outdoor grill in temperatures lower than 35!

(The picture is a van outside my mom's bedroom window in Idaho.)

COLD IS A RELATIVE THING. . . . . .
65 above zero:
Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Wisconsin plant gardens.
60 above zero:
Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Wisconsin sunbathe.
50 above zero:
Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Wisconsin drive with the windows down.
40 above zero:
Georgians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in Wisconsin throw on a flannel shirt.
35 above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Wisconsin have the last cookout before it gets cold.
20 above Zero:
People in Miami all die.
Wisconsinites close the windows.

Zero:
Californians fly away to Mexico .
People in Wisconsin get out their winter coats.
10 below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Wisconsin are selling cookies door to door.
20 below zero:
Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Wisconsin let the dogs sleep indoors.
30 below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Wisconsinites get upset because they can't start the Snow-mobile.
40 below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops.
People in Wisconsin start saying...'Cold enough fer ya?'
50 below zero:
Hell freezes over.
Wisconsin public schools will open 2 hours late.

Aretha Franklin: My Country 'Tis of Thee

In case you missed it yesterday, or in case (like me) you just wanted to see it again, here's the Queen of Soul singing at Barack Obama's inauguration. I watched it in one of my favorite restaurants that was so packed that I could only glimpse the corner of Ms. Franklin's fabulous hat on the big screen. But the timbre of her voice, the excitement of the moment, the beauty of the melody, and the profundity of the lyrics (written almost two centuries ago) brought me to tears all the same.

Langston Hughes: Children's Rhymes

Last week, a professor in my department used the second stanza of this Langston Hughes poem on his syllabus, and it was so stunning to read in light of tomorrow's inauguration that I immediately had to go look up the whole poem.

"Children's Rhymes" reflects the generation gap at the time Hughes wrote it (early 1950's, I believe)---an older person watching (and complaining) about the jivey be-bop rhymes (in italics) of the kids on his block.

We've still got a lot of hard work stretched out in front of us, but I have to say it feels really good to make some progress!

Children's Rhymes
by Langston Hughes

When I was a chile we used to play,
"One -- two -- buckle my shoe!"
and things like that. But now, Lord,
listen at them little varmints!

By what sends
the white kids
I ain't sent:
I know I can't
be President.

There is two thousand children
in this block, I do believe!

What don't bug
them white kids
sure bugs me:
We knows everybody
ain't free!

Some of these young ones is cert'ly bad --
One batted a hard ball right through my window
and my gold fish et the glass.

What's written down
for white folks
ain't for us a-tall:
"Liberty And Justice --
Huh -- For All."

Oop-pop-a-da!
Skee! Daddle-de-do!
Be-bop!

Salt' peanuts!

De-dop!

Grab Bag Friday: Tickets, anyone?

Well, I'm back from a lovely, sunshine-filled family vacation and woke up this morning to -14 degrees. Brrrrr!

Luckily, we've got some things to look forward to in the next few weeks to keep our minds off the weather. I'm looking forward to the inauguration, and Kevin's looking forward to the Superbowl. So of course this cartoon from Slate cracked me up:

Blog Vacation

I'm taking a little break for the first half of January, but you can be sure that when I return, I'll bring you up to speed on everything I've been reading and listening to over the last few weeks!

Happy New Year!!

Favorite Holiday Books & Music

Gift photo by Thomas Hawk

If you're frantically wracking your brain for those last-minute gifts, I've compiled a round-up of the holiday books & music I've written about in the past. Don't forget to check out the Alternative Gifts posts, too!

BOOKS:

• Truman Capote, A Christmas Memory
• J.R.R Tolkien, Letters from Father Christmas
• Robert Frost (illustrated by Susan Jeffers), Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening
• Jacqueline Briggs Martin, Snowflake Bentley (this post also has a snowflake-themed Longfellow poem...bonus)
• Berkeley Breathed, A Wish for Wings That Work

MUSIC:

• Mahalia Jackson & Bing Crosby (not singing together...it's a 2-for-1 review)
• Bing Crosby & David Bowie (singing together!)
• My version of Silent Night
• Etta Jones & my I'll Be Home for Christmas iMix
• More Mahalia Jackson
• Emmylou Harris
• Band Aid (old school)
• More Etta Jones

Other Lists Worth Visiting:

• Mother Reader's fabulous 21 Ways to Give a Book lists
• Wild Rose Reader's *comprehensive* reviews and links to holiday picture books (a great place for recommendations for books about Hanukkah, too!)
• New York Times Books, Music, & DVD 2008 Holiday Gift Guide

Grab Bag Friday Movie Vault: Elf

Over the last few years, Elf has slowly made its way onto my list of favorite Christmas movies. It's that perfect blend of fish-out-of-water, mistaken identity, and slapstick humor that I love in a comedy.

If you haven't seen it (and you *should*), Will Ferrell plays Buddy, a human who has been adopted and raised by Santa and his elves. When he leaves the North Pole for the first time to look for his birth father...well, I'll just say that hilarity ensues!

Here are three of my favorite clips for your Friday enjoyment:

Buddy arrives in New York City:



Buddy gets a job at a department store "North Pole":



Buddy meets the department store's "Santa":

Christmas with Etta Jones

Last night, I was up until *midnight* wrapping up all the presents that need to be shipped off to Wisconsin by Christmas. (You should know, midnight is insane for me...probably the equivalent of 2am for most people!) It could have been one of those frantic nights of tearing through the house looking for scissors and wrapping paper, slapping on bows and rushing around. Thankfully, it wasn't.

Mainly, because I put on Christmas with Etta Jones, which I just discovered two years ago. Despite the cheesy, old-school cover, it is one of the most soulful, soothing Christmas albums you can find. Because I'm too sleepy to wax on, here are samples of all the songs, so you can hear for yourself:

The Local Level: Feeding America

Maine author, Cynthia Lord, wrote a blog post today about the problem of childhood hunger in America. She quotes this statistic: There are 35 million Americans who don't know where their next meal is coming from.

Many of those people are children. Think about trying to go to school (or even *care* about school) on an empty stomach, knowing that the fish sticks and lima beans at your cafeteria lunch may be your only meal of the day. And that's if you're lucky enough to *have* school lunch in your school!

So is there anything we can do to help? Yes! While we're holiday shopping and baking and spreading the love among our families and friends, we can take just a moment to spread the love a little farther.

Cynthia gave a link to Feeding America, and on their website you can find all kinds of ways to help alleviate hunger on the local and the national level. On their Take Action page, you can:

• Look up your local food bank by zip code so you can donate food or supplies
• Donate cash (right now, every dollar you donate will be matched by Kraft Foods)
• Host a food drive
• Search for volunteer opportunities in your community (this search will work great if you live in or near a city...you might have to do a little more local research if you're in a rural area)
• Spread the word! Send a letter, tell a friend, tell 10 friends! The more awareness we raise, the more action people will take.

Please take some time to check out other ways you can help out on The Local Level during the holidays. Then, think about taking some time to volunteer, donate, and spread the word throughout the year!

Robert Frost: Birches

Photos by looseends and var resa.

This is what it looked like outside our house this weekend. Even each individual blade of grass on our lawn was coated in ice. Yesterday, there was the constant clink of ice falling from branches.

Ice storms are so musical and gorgeous that it's hard to reconcile how devastating they can be. Thankfully, we only lost power for about 12 hours and had no real storm damage other than a few downed branches, but there are still plenty of people around who *still* don't have power.

Ice storms like these always remind me of Robert Frost, who described them perfectly:

Birches
By Robert Frost

When I see birches bend to left and right
Across the lines of straighter darker trees,
I like to think some boy's been swinging them.
But swinging doesn't bend them down to stay.
Ice-storms do that. Often you must have seen them
Loaded with ice a sunny winter morning
After a rain. They click upon themselves
As the breeze rises, and turn many-colored
As the stir cracks and crazes their enamel.
Soon the sun's warmth makes them shed crystal shells
Shattering and avalanching on the snow-crust--
Such heaps of broken glass to sweep away
You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen.
They are dragged to the withered bracken by the load,
And they seem not to break; though once they are bowed
So low for long, they never right themselves:
You may see their trunks arching in the woods
Years afterwards, trailing their leaves on the ground
Like girls on hands and knees that throw their hair
Before them over their heads to dry in the sun.
But I was going to say when Truth broke in
With all her matter-of-fact about the ice-storm
(Now am I free to be poetical?)
I should prefer to have some boy bend them
As he went out and in to fetch the cows--
Some boy too far from town to learn baseball,
Whose only play was what he found himself,
Summer or winter, and could play alone.
One by one he subdued his father's trees
By riding them down over and over again
Until he took the stiffness out of them,
And not one but hung limp, not one was left
For him to conquer. He learned all there was
To learn about not launching out too soon
And so not carrying the tree away
Clear to the ground. He always kept his poise
To the top branches, climbing carefully
With the same pains you use to fill a cup
Up to the brim, and even above the brim.
Then he flung outward, feet first, with a swish,
Kicking his way down through the air to the ground.
So was I once myself a swinger of birches.
And so I dream of going back to be.
It's when I'm weary of considerations,
And life is too much like a pathless wood
Where your face burns and tickles with the cobwebs
Broken across it, and one eye is weeping
From a twig's having lashed across it open.
I'd like to get away from earth awhile
And then come back to it and begin over.
May no fate willfully misunderstand me
And half grant what I wish and snatch me away
Not to return. Earth's the right place for love:
I don't know where it's likely to go better.
I'd like to go by climbing a birch tree,
And climb black branches up a snow-white trunk
Toward heaven, till the tree could bear no more,
But dipped its top and set me down again.
That would be good both going and coming back.
One could do worse than be a swinger of birches.

Alternative Gifts: Water for Christmas

My friend Kate is a fabulous dancer/choreographer who teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She recently sent me Dancing for Water, a site where people are posting dances to promote the Charity: Water program, Water 4 Christmas. I hope you will consider joining the Water 4 Christmas cause:

We are people. Moms, Dads, Sons, Daughters. United by the desire to keep our eyes and hearts open. To increasingly live for things bigger than ourselves. So this Christmas season, we’re going to give up something. Big somethings. Little somethings. Going without so the people in Liberian villages can have access to clean water. The Moms, Dads, Sons, Daughters.

Statistics show that Americans spend 450 billion dollars on Christmas every year. Experts estimate it would cost 10 billion dollars to give the whole world clean water. This has become a national campaign to see if we can change these statistics. To swing the pendulum from consumerism to compassion.

To see what happens when we come together and buy Water for Christmas.

I'll admit that I spent a good hour on Dancing for Water. There's a fun performance of "Mama Gooneybird" by an Iowa family that I dare you not to smile at. There's a tearjerker by Frank & Terre in Davenport, Iowa who dance to "Do You Love Me?" from Fiddler on the Roof. There's a goofy St. Paul couple and their golden retriever dancing in their Halloween costumes to "Tequila!" (the "other" water?)

I *loved* this one, though:
Dan the Man Bettendorf, IA

Odetta dies at 77

Last week, my friend John sent me an email to let me know that we lost one of the greatest Civil Rights activists and folk singers of all time.

Odetta's first album, Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues, came out in 1956, and for the last 52 years she has used folk music to inspire, motivate, and move people all over the globe for the cause of justice.

I love this quote from the interview below. Odetta is asked what role folk music played in the Civil Rights Movement, and for me, her answer perfectly sums up the power of her music:

"It was music from those who went before. The music gave them strength, and the music gave us strength to carry it on."

Here is a link to the New York Times obituary.

Here is a link to a 2005 interview with Odetta on NPR.

This is a brief clip of Odetta at the Newport Folk Festival in the 1960s.



And this is Odetta singing Keep On Moving It On in her 70s, looking frail, but her voice is just as strong as ever!



Here is Odetta talking about her life as an activist:

Jeanne Birdsall: The Penderwicks

I grew up reading my mother's favorite series': The Bobbsey Twins, The Boxcar Children, and Eleanor Estes' lovable Moffats. There was something endlessly enjoyable about these simple, episodic stories that always involved a gaggle of siblings getting in and out of scrapes. Since I had a gaggle of five siblings myself, I could relate. I fancied myself the Middle Moffat and dreamed of having a boxcar in my backyard.

In recent years, there have been some fantastic tips-of-the-hat to this old format. Lois Lowry's hilarious parody The Willoughby's skewers more than one of my old favorites ("Shouldn't we be orphans?" says Timothy), and Lemony Snicket's Series of Unfortunate Events gives the convention a wry, dark twist.

But Jeanne Birdsall's The Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy is a true throw-back. Nostalgic, witty, and a joy to read, it has none of the wry satire of Lowry or Snicket, but it's just as lovable in its own purist way. In the first book of the series, the four Penderwick siblings and their loyal dog Hound go on a three week summer holiday with their father (they are not orphans, but have lost their mother). They get in and out of hilarious and breath-taking scrapes involving an angry bull, a lost rabbit, and the terribly mean and snobbish Mrs. Tifton.

Of course there is a love interest for oldest daughter Rosalind, and of course Skye is a tomboy, Jane is a dreamer, and Batty is the most lovable little girl you ever saw in a pair of wings. But the story is so charming that the conventions work and draw you along, and you find yourself gripping the book and think-shouting "Run, Batty, run!" when that angry bull comes along.

If you are looking for a book for the 8-12 year old set, or a nighttime read-aloud for a gaggle of siblings, you simply cannot go wrong with The Penderwicks.

The Penderwicks deservingly won the 2005 National Book Award.

You can see all of Jeanne Birdsall's pets (including Stanley the snail) here.

Alternative Gifts: My New Favorite Gift Card

There are some people who are impossible to buy for. The ones who already have everything under the sun, or who are so picky that even a basic black sweater makes them go "Ohhh, nice," and immediately look for the gift receipt (I admit to having this particular tendency now and again).

For these people, God created gift cards. And every year, zillions of those plastic gift cards from stores like Borders, Amazon, Best Buy, and iTunes fly off the shelves (or the net) and into stockings.

But don't you ever get tired of these gift cards? Don't you wish you could give a gift card that made a real difference in the world? A gift card for water in Africa, or a gift card for child immunizations? Sure, you can always give a donation to a worthy organization in the recipient's name, but what if your Aunt Martha isn't a Heifer Project kind of gal? What if she's always secretly dreamed of giving a micro-loan to a single woman starting her own business in Central America?

I recently came across the GlobalGiving gift cards, and they are now my favorite gift card around. You buy the card, and the recipient can go online and allocate the money to the charity or charities of their choice. I like that you can send the gift cards via email *or* choose a pretty (and biodegradable!) physical card with a nice sleeve (free shipping on cards until Dec. 31).

For kids, there's a card called MarkMakers (still my favorite kids' gift around) that's essentially the same concept, but the website is more fun.

Click here to view more Alternative Gifts posts.

Emmylou Harris & Dave Matthews: My Antonia

A friend of mine lent me My Antonia by Willa Cather to read over the Thanksgiving holiday. As always, my vacation reading list was overly ambitious (I usually bring 5-6 books and end up reading two), and the book is sitting patiently on my dresser waiting its post-vacation turn.

But the result of having Willa Cather in my possession for the last 10 days is that every single day I have found myself inadvertently humming, whistling, or singing the gorgeous Emmylou Harris song of the same name.

So I simply had to post this video of Emmylou Harris and Dave Matthews singing My Antonia:

Marilynne Robinson: Home

I had the pleasure of reading Marilynne Robinson's new book, Home, over the Thanksgiving holiday. We were visiting Kevin's family, and I appreciated being able to read this book in his childhood home with smells of turkey and gingerbread hovering in the air. Because this is a book about family and prodigal sons, and that concept we can't help but gloss over and fret about, blow out of proportion and take for granted: home.

"I just never knew another child who didn’t feel at home in the house where he was born," says Rev. Boughton about his troubled son, who has returned home shrouded in mystery after a 20 year absense.

For those who have read Robinson's previous Pulitzer-prize winning book, Gilead (a stunningly beautiful meditation on fathers, sons, friendship, and faith), these are familiar characters. In Gilead, the narrator is John Ames, an elderly Presbyterian preacher who is writing a final letter to his seven year old son. In Home, the narrator is Glory Boughton, the grown daughter of Rev. Boughton, John Ames' closest friend and confidant. Glory has come home to take care of her ailing father, and we are able to see many of the events that took place in Gilead through her eyes. The result is like looking through a prism. As events unfold, we are shown another angle, a new way to light the facts.

I'm a huge fan of Marilynne Robinson's slow, deliberate, and painstaking style. Like the lives of the Midwest families she writes about, there is a stillness to her prose that allows turmoil to churn slowly underneath. There are undercurrents of racism, bitterness, and ugliness that manage to run just below themes of love, faith, and healing.

I highly recommend Home. Now I have to go read Gilead again to re-absorb all the lovely details I've forgotten.

Here is the New York Times review of Home.
Here is an interview with Marilynne Robinson from The Paris Review.

Grab Bag Friday: Raising Kids Who Care

I hope you all had a warm, full, cozy Thanksgiving!  

This week, while I was on vacation, a Readers' Digest article, Raising Kids Who Care, showed up in my inbox. It's a terrific read, especially as we're all coming down from our Thanksgiving celebrations and gearing up for the holidays. Especially in this economic downturn it's essential to think about ways to spread the love.

Some tips from author Martha Fay about how to raise kids who care:

• Encourage their passion (I love the idea of Kids Cheering Kids)
  
• Start them young (kids who volunteer at a young age are more likely to continue to do so as adults)
  
• Involve the whole family (make it a bonding experience)
  
• Involve their friends (it's *so* much more fun to do things when your friends are coming along)
  
• Take volunteering on the road (how about rethinking your next family vacation?)

Marvin Gaye: How Sweet It Is

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday, and my favorite part is thinking through all the things I'm thankful for in this world. My mother would call it "counting my blessings."

One thing on my list this year: the voice of Marvin Gaye.

Whose voice is on your list?

Edie Brickell & the New Bohemians: Love Like We Do

I'm already rushing around like crazy today, so I'm just going to post up an old favorite. Hope you enjoy it!

Marianne Moore: What Are Years?

Ten years ago when my husband and I first met, before we were even dating, he made me a birthday card with a Marianne Moore poem handwritten on the back. With my birthday coming around this week, I've been thinking about this poem again.

Moore asserts that courage lies in accepting our mortality, and within those confines, managing to find (if not satisfaction) joy. At the time, I thought Kevin's card was sweet and thoughtful (he knew how much I admired Moore's poetry). But now, ten years later--I woke up this morning, we went through the confines of our daily routine (teeth, face, hair, coffee, work), and laughed about some little thing or another. On our drive to work, I watched the sun glancing off the last surviving leaves dangling from the trees and thought: How pure a thing is joy.

What Are Years?
by Marianne Moore

What is our innocence,
what is our guilt? All are
naked, none is safe. And whence
is courage: the unanswered question,
the resolute doubt, --
dumbly calling, deafly listening--that
in misfortune, even death,
encourages others
and in its defeat, stirs

the soul to be strong? He
sees deep and is glad, who
accedes to mortality
and in his imprisonment rises
upon himself as
the sea in a chasm, struggling to be
free and unable to be,
in its surrendering
finds its continuing.

So he who strongly feels,
behaves. The very bird,
grown taller as he sings, steels
his form straight up. Though he is captive,
his mighty singing
says, satisfaction is a lowly
thing, how pure a thing is joy.
This is mortality,
this is eternity.

Grab Bag Friday Movie Vault: That Darn Cat

In honor of my beautiful brand new niece, Hayley Elsa, I thought I'd highlight another of my favorite Hayley Mills movies. (If you missed the last one, check out Summer Magic...it's a gem.)

That Darn Cat was Hayley Mills' last movie with Disney, and Dean Jones' first. To be fair, I'm completely biased from the get-go because along with Fred MacMurray (who is not in this film) these may be my favorite Disney actors of all time. I'll tell you right off, it's not an academy award winner. But if you are looking for something light and goofy with a solid story and a whole lot of hilarious physical comedy, That Darn Cat is definitely worth a watch.

The hijinks start when a cat belonging to Hayley Mills (Patti in the film) follows a bank robber to an apartment where a woman is being held hostage. The woman scratches "Help me!" onto the back of her watch and puts the watch around the cat's neck. Patti finds the watch, calls the FBI, enter Dean Jones and, well...to give you a taste, here's the original Disney trailer:

Bill Withers: Lean on Me

Ever since I can remember, Bill Withers' Lean on Me has been one of my favorite songs. My brother and sisters and I used to sing it constantly--on car trips, while doing the dishes--getting especial pleasure from the "Call on me brother, if you need a hand" line (which is still the most fun part to sing).

I remember sitting with my brother at the old upright piano in my grandparent's guest cabin trying to figure out the chords while my mother talked about the bear she'd seen through the window. (Yes, my grandparent's guest cabin had one dusty bed, no running water, and an outhouse, but of course there was a piano. My grandmother will always be the a-house-is-not-a-home-without-music type of soul.)

The thing I love about this song is how it captures our innate, human tendency to feel like we are alone in this world. When hard times come (and boy, do they), we often try to shoulder the burdens on our own, either because we think it's heroic to "soldier on," or we don't want to bother anyone, or we just don't think anyone cares.

But the song reminds us of something we need to try very hard not to forget: we are all in this together. We need to swallow our fear and pride and acknowledge that we all need someone to lean on every once in a while. And then, we need to reach out a hand.

Here is a great live version of Bill Withers singing Lean on Me (listen closely to the lyrics, they're so simple, but they're creative genius):



Lean on Me
by Bill Withers

Sometimes in our lives we all have pain
We all have sorrow
But if we are wise
We know that there's always tomorrow

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride
If I have things you need to borrow
For no one can fill those of your needs
That you don't let show

Lean on me, when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
'Til I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

If there is a load you have to bear
That you can't carry
I'm right up the road
I'll share your load
If you just call me

So just call on me brother, when you need a hand
We all need somebody to lean on
I just might have a problem that you'd understand
We all need somebody to lean on

Lean on me when you're not strong
And I'll be your friend
I'll help you carry on
For it won't be long
Till I'm gonna need
Somebody to lean on

Lean on me...

New York Times Children's Book Fall Special Issue

I always look forward to the New York Times Children's Book Special Issues. Well, the Fall issue is out, and some highlights include:

• Best Illustrated Children's Books of 2008
• A review of recent books introducing kids to William Carlos Williams and Emily Dickinson (I can't wait to get my hands on both)
• Books About Bears
• Books About Darkness
• Alphabet Books (Check out A is for Art!)

There are so many other lists and reviews to peruse. You could (and I'm sure I will) spend hours scanning through and making your wish lists. Enjoy!

Concert Tonight: Damariscotta, Maine

One more note...

For those of you who are in the Damariscotta, Maine area, I'll be playing tonight as the featured performer at a new open mic/coffee house at Round Top Farm (formerly the Round Top Center for the Arts).

The open mic runs from 6:45 to 8:15, and I'll be on from 8:30 to 9:30. If you'd like to participate in the open mic, please be sure to sign up for your slot promptly at 6:30.

Round Top Farm is on US Rte 1A across from Poole Brothers hardware/lumber yard.

Grab Bag Friday: Exceptional Websites for Kids

Congratulations to The Children's Book Review, which was added to the ALSC (Association for Library Service to Children) list of Great Websites for Children.

Browsing through the other 14 sites that were added, I got a kick out of stopping at the National Mock Election and noting that among kids who voted, Obama/Biden won in Alaska (Palin's home state) and McCain/Palin won in Hawaii (Obama's home state). I guess kids there are a little bored with their home state heroes?

There's a *lot* to see and do at the Nature Educational Resource, but I have to say I especially like the Weird Questions Answered page. Kids can email their weird questions and have them answered. Like Are Redheads Different from Other People? (the answer is yes, in one obvious and one surprising way) and What's Up with the Exploding Toads? (it's gross).

Another nice addition to the list is the search engine GoGooligans. Powered by Google (it's Google for kids), it will filter your searches and only give kid-friendly results.

If you've got a rainy weekend, you could spend hours browsing the entire list.

How I Got Over!

I'll admit it. I got teary-eyed as I filled out my ballot yesterday. And I shed more than one tear watching the results come in. I woke up this morning and walked outside, and the clouds were all lit up with morning light, and I had to choke back the tears again.

I just kept thinking about what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would think if he were alive. And I thought of all those individual people who stood and marched and fought with Dr. King, many of whom *are* alive today. Did they ever think they would live to see a black man elected president?

I tried to think of words, but I just have to go back to that Mahalia Jackson song I posted last month. The one she sang just before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his I Have a Dream speech.

How I got over
How did I make it over
You know my soul look back and wonder
How did I make it over?

Don't get me wrong. We still have a lot of work to do in this country. We can't just sit back and say, "We did it!" and that's that. But I think for this morning, it's ok to be quiet for a moment and watch the sunlight coming through the clouds. It's a new day.

The Closing Argument: Please Vote Tomorrow!

In the I-couldn't-have-said-it-better-myself category...

Conservative writer Andrew Sullivan has written a concise, reasonable, and compelling piece for The Atlantic: The Top Ten Reasons Conservatives Should Vote for Obama.

And The New Yorker closes their incredibly in-depth final endorsement (worth checking out) with this simple sum-up:

At a moment of economic calamity, international perplexity, political failure, and battered morale, America needs both uplift and realism, both change and steadiness. It needs a leader temperamentally, intellectually, and emotionally attuned to the complexities of our troubled globe. That leader’s name is Barack Obama.

I've posted it before, but go ahead, play it again: