Small Talk

I'm not very good at small talk, so this struck me as funny.

Journal Prompts for Advent

From a blog post dated December 5, 2007:

The 2007 post at  ExploreFaith.org , which is no long available on the website:

 I found these suggestions for journaling each day of Advent. I'm not sure that I'll do it, but I may pick and choose a few. Here they are for your perusal:

Journaling Daily During Advent

Day 1 When I see someone in pain, I respond by… Day 2 When someone is being spoken of in a mean-spirited way, I respond by… Day 3 When I see a child laughing, I respond by… Day 4 When I feel my heart is heavy, I respond by… Day 5 When I encounter someone I dislike, I respond by… Day 6 When my activities are more numerous than the hours of the day, I respond by… Day 7 When I see a handicapped person, I respond by… Day 8 When someone is unkind to me, I respond by… Day 9 When I am asked to do an unpleasant task, I respond by… Day 10 When I have questions about my faith (or lack of it,) I respond by… Day 11 When people disagree with me, I respond by… Day 12 When I am surprised by grace, I respond by… Day 13 When my child or grandchild misbehaves, I respond by… Day 14 When I partake of an excellent meal, I respond by… Day 15 When things aren’t going my way, I respond by… Day 16 When a decision I make turns out to be wrong, I respond by… Day 17 When someone I love is thoughtless, I respond by… Day 18 When I feel warmed by another’s presence, I respond by… Day 19 When I lack what I need, I respond by… Day 20 When God seems far away, I respond by… Day 21 When I meet someone completely different from me, I respond by… Day 22 When others don’t listen to me, I respond by… Day 23 When I hear bad news, I respond by… Day 24 When I hear good news, I respond by… Day 25 What is the gift of my life that I will offer heaven this day?

Love Cannot Be Silenced!

Power of Introverts

Susan Cain is the author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. A good friend recently recommended it to me to read.

I found Susan Cain's TED's Talk about introverts, which is featured below. I love her beginning segment, where she talks about going to summer camp for the very first time with a full bag of books that her mother helped her to pack. She came from a family who enjoyed reading together, each with his/her own book. That sounds like my family!

Whether you are an extrovert or an introvert, this 19 minute video is entertaining and interesting! I hope you'll take the time to watch it.

Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale

Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale

"Measure the walls. Count the ribs. Notch the long days. Look up for blue sky through the spout. Make small fires with the broken hulls of fishing boats. Practice smoke signals. Call old friends, and listen for echoes of distant voices. Organize your calendar. Dream of the beach. Look each way for the dim glow of light. Work on your reports. Review each of your life's ten million choices. Endure moments of self-loathing. Find the evidence of those before you. Destroy it. Try to be very quiet, and listen for the sound of gears and moving water. Listen for the sound of your heart. Be thankful that you are here, swallowed with all hope, where you can rest and wait. Be nostalgic. Think of all the things you did and could have done. Remember treading water in the center of the still night sea, your toes pointing again and again down, down into the black depths."

"Things to Do in the Belly of the Whale" by Dan Albergotti from The Boatloads.© BOA Editions, Ltd., 2008.

Turkey Chowder

I made turkey chowder tonight, which is a family tradition after Thanksgiving and Christmas. I chopped up too many potatoes, so then added more carrots--and ended up doubling the recipe. I used to do that when our four children were at home, but now there's only Chuck and me here. I'll give some soup to friends tomorrow, while we'll have some for the next few days.

Turkey Chowder

1 ½ Tbsp. butter

1 onion, thinly chopped

(optional ¼ cup chopped green pepper—I don’t use)

1 ½ cups chicken or turkey broth

2 cups diced carrots (about 3 medium)

3 cups peeled, diced potatoes (about 3 medium)

1 cup thinly sliced celery

½ tsp. salt

3 cups cooked, diced turkey or chicken

1 17-oz. can cream-style corn or pour in frozen corn kernels

½ tsp. dried thyme leaves

½ + tsp. Mrs. Dash

some drops of Tabasco Sauce

3 cups milk

1. In a large saucepan, melt the butter, and sauté the onion (and pepper) until they are tender.
2. Add the broth and carrots. Heat the chowder to boiling, reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer the chowder for 5 minutes.
3. Add the potatoes, celery, and salt. Simmer the chowder, covered for another 10 minutes or until the potatoes and carrots are tender.
4. Stir in the turkey, corn, other spices, and milk. Heat the chowder thoroughly, but do not let it come to a boil.

Brody, Jane. Jane Brody's Good Food Book. NY: W. W. Norton and Company, 1985. 347.

Photo of Chuck and Jan

Daughter MJ took this picture of Chuck and me before we went to a wedding yesterday.

Thanksgiving Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our New Wooden Floors!

The hardwood floors were finished yesterday. Now the finish has to set for the next seven days. THEN we'll have to move everything back into these three rooms! We are really happy with how they turned out.

Living room looking into the dining room

Looking at the entryway from the living room

Dirty Dishes

Lots of dishes get dirty when cooking a big dinner. Although I am not officially cooking the Thanksgiving Dinner that will be at son DC and daughter AA's house, today I cooked a 14 lb. turkey with stuffing. I also made candied sweet potatoes and a pecan pie, which is baking right this minute.

The latter two items are traveling to Austin for the bigger Thanksgiving dinner. Chuck and I already ate some of the turkey this evening for dinner. The turkey and stuffing will be left for future leftovers (especially turkey sandwiches with stuffing and cranberry sauce) IF son BJ leaves us any!

27 year old BJ is bringing his girl friend to Corpus Christi on Thanksgiving Day, while only the dogs and cat will be at home.

While up in Austin, our youngest and oldest children will gather together with AA's family and Chuck and me to share the Thanksgiving meal. We'll also celebrate Avery's "real" second birthday, even though her party was this past weekend.

I know that daughter AA and her partner KA would like to celebrate Avery's birthday here, but they traveled from Seattle for Halloween. They'll be staying there, where they are enduring a flooded basement in their rented house, which hopefully has not damaged their furnace. 

And tonight we still have lots of dirty dishes, pots and pans, etc. in the kitchen waiting to be cleaned. I am fortunate that husband Chuck has always cleaned up after my cooking messes!

I am thankful for my family, wherever they may be.

Dog/Human Training

Young Book Lover!

Avery found the book aisle at a toy store and started looking at books! This warms my heart. I am glad she loves books, like her parents and grandmothers do.

Pre-Holiday Griping

While re-reading the FF "mulleygrubs" poem, I decided that I needed to learn more about its author, Ginger Andrews. She was born in 1956 in Oregon and works as a janitor and cleaning lady; she has also won many awards for her poetry. Her two books of poetry are out of print. A search of the internet leads one to sites featuring her poems, especially Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac. Here is another of her humorous poems about Thanksgiving. This one is about the approaching holiday season (like on MINDIGHT of Thanksgiving Day!):

“Pre-Holiday PMS,” by Ginger Andrews, from An Honest Answer (Story Line Press). 
 

I don't want to be thankful this year.
I don't want to eat turkey and I could care
if I never again tasted
your mother's cornbread stuffing.
I hate sweet potato pie. I hate mini marshmallows.

I hate doing dishes while you watch football.
I hate Christmas. I hate name-drawing.
I hate tree-trimming, gift-wrapping,
and Rudolph the zipper-necked red-nosed reindeer.
I just want to skip the whole merry mess—
unless, of course, you'd like to try
to change my mind. You could start
by telling me I'm pretty and leaving me
your charge cards
and all your cash.

Stained Floors

Our house with the storage van for the floor guys who are doing our floors.

Stained wood--done today. No walking on it. Two finishes will be applied next week.

Sawdust over everything. They filled an entire garbage can with sawdust they swept up.

Friday Five: Thanksgiving Soon!

An old-fashioned American Thanksgiving!

The Cure

Lying around all day
with some strange new deep blue
weekend funk, I'm not really asleep
when my sister calls
to say she's just hung up
from talking with Aunt Bertha
who is 89 and ill but managing
to take care of Uncle Frank
who is completely bed ridden.
Aunt Bert says
it's snowing there in Arkansas,
on Catfish Lane, and she hasn't been
able to walk out to their mailbox.
She's been suffering
from a bad case of the mulleygrubs.
The cure for the mulleygrubs,
she tells my sister,
is to get up and bake a cake.
If that doesn't do it, put on a red dress.

--Ginger Andrews (from Hurricane Sisters)

 
So this Friday before Thanksgiving, think about Aunt Bert and how she'll celebrate Thanksgiving! And how about YOU?

 
1. What is your cure for the "mulleygrubs"?

Well, eating chocolate always helps. Talking to one of my children or being with a friend. I am always helped by my two walking buddies--on Saturday mornings and on Sunday evenings.

2. Where will you be for Thanksgiving?

This year for Thanksgiving we will be in Austin, where we will also celebrate Avery's second birthday! Daughter MJ will be there from Salt Lake City, as will our in-laws who are Avery's other family.

 
3. What foods will be served? Which are traditional for your family?

 There will be a brined turkey, which is my daughter-in-law's specialty. I am bringing a pecan pie, cranberry sauce and candied sweet potatoes from Corpus Christi. There will be more yummy options.

 
4. How do you feel about Thanksgiving as a holiday?

It has always been a day of eating and football in my family, which is a lot of work. It won't be as much work for me this year and more fun seeing Avery and Margaret, so I am looking forward to it. Where's the feeling? Anticipation!

 
5. In this season of Thanksgiving, what are you grateful for?

I am grateful for my family and friends. After spending two days at the Lebh Shomea retreat center in Sarita, TX this week, I am appreciating the ways people have shown and nurtured me on this spiritual path, especially in silence.

BONUS: Describe Aunt Bert's Thanksgiving.

Lots of pies and rolls!

Hand = Image of Divine

Bede would hold up his hand. Imagine that that the 5 world religions were the fingers of your hand. If you look at your fingertips, they are so different. If your thumb represents Christianity and your little finger represents Buddhism, these 2 religions appear to be 180 degrees apart.

But as you follow your fingers down to your palm, they draw closer together. And so do the different religions. When you reach the palm, the fingers merge into one space. As do the religions, all converge onto the same sacred concept of the Divine.

Go to Bede Griffiths, Spirituality for Today for lovely and profound thoughts about this mystic.

Bede Griffiths OSB Cam^[1] (17 December 1906 – 13 May 1993), born Alan Richard Griffiths and also known by the end of his life as Swami Dayananda ("bliss of compassion"), was a British-born Indian Benedictine monk who lived in ashrams in South India and became a noted yogi. He has become a leading thinker in the development of the dialogue between Christianity and Hinduism. Griffiths was a part of the Christian Ashram Movement.

How Our Cat Copes

With all the noise and ruckus from our floors being redone, our cat often goes into seclusion in our main bathroom, which is where she sleeps at night.

Continued Home Saga

 There is this big pod in our driveway for the biggest furniture in the front three rooms of our house: the entryway, the living room, and the dining room. I park my car on the left side and must maneuver around the pod to back out. Chuck rescues me often!

 The openings into the kitchen and the family room are sealed off with plastic sheeting. This is the entryway with all the boxes of wood piled to the right.

Yesterday was their first full day of floor preparation. They ground down the cement flooring and even poured more cement. More leveling today before they start laying down the wood. You can see how they are measuring the uniformity of the flatness with the measuring devices on the floor.

Our cat is not too happy with the noise and blockage from her roaming areas.

Dining Room Color!

After much indecision and paint samples, I decided upon the painting color for our dining room. Samples have been a dark purple that looked brown, rose, orange, and peach. This morning I awoke with the idea of celery green! Chuck got that sample, and we decided to go with that for our dining room that used to have dark green wallpaper with pink and red flowers and birds on it.

Here is a picture of Chuck painting. In the background you can see the boxes of wood for the new floor. They'll start on that on Monday.

And here is what the space looked like with the wallpaper (and furniture):

Your True Self is WHO YOU ARE

"Your True Self is who you are in God and who God is in you. You can never really lose your soul; you can only fail to realize it, which is indeed the greatest of losses: to have it but not have it (Matthew 16.26). Your essence, your exact “thisness,” will never appear again in another incarnation. . . .

"You (and every other created thing) begin with a divine DNA, an inner destiny as it were, an absolute core that knows the truth about you, a blueprint tucked away in the cellar of your being, an imago Dei that begs to be allowed, to be fulfilled, and to show itself. As it says in Romans (5.5), “It is the Holy Spirit poured into your heart, and it has been given to you.” . . .

"John Duns Scotus (1265-1308), the Franciscan philosopher . . .called each soul a unique “thisness” (haecceity), and he said it was to be found in every act of creation in its singularity. For him, God did not create universals, genus, and species, or anything that needed to come back again and again to get it right (reincarnation), but only specific and unique incarnations of the Eternal Mystery—each one chosen, loved, and preserved in existence as itself—by being itself. And this is the glory of God"

Richard Rohr, excerpted from Immortal Diamond: the Search for Our True Self (due for publication February 2013)

Friday Five: HAPPY!

Today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals is brought to us by Revkjarla:

Give us five "I haz a happy"s...... for your Friday Five.  AND, bonus points for photos!!!!!

1. I am happy that I could visit youngest daughter MJ in Utah this past week and also see autumnal leaves!

MJ at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City

 2. I am happy that daughters AE and KA came to visit in Austin around Halloween and that we could see them, our granddaughter Avery and her parents.

Avery with KA at pumpkin patch

AA, Avery, and DC at pumpkin patch

3. I am very happy that husband Chuck is painting the walls that used to be covered with wallpaper!

Chuck painting out entryway this morning!

4. I am going to spend two days at Lebh Shomea, silent retreat center, in Sarita, TX next week.

5. I am happy that I have good friends, some of whom are pictured below.

Nov. 5, 2012

MJ's 23rd birthday with me in Salt Lake City.

This U.S. Election

Amazing what some states are approving, especially related to marriage equality. 

Click on this to read it better. From Upworthy, which I first saw on Facebook.

Home Is Different!

Chuck sent me this picture of the dining room wallpaper on the floor while I was in Utah visiting youngest daughter MJ. I just got home tonight and see that Chuck moved china, books, and furniture into bedrooms and into a pod storage unit that is on our driveway. He arduously stripped wallpaper from both the entry way and the dining room. I appreciate all his hard work while I was having fun with MJ in Salt Lake City.

I went there for her 23rd birthday and will post pictures soon.

All the house rearrangement is because the brown carpet will be stripped off the floor as pictured above so that hardwood flooring will be installed in the front three rooms of our house: entry way, living and dining rooms.

Goodby October!

Add caption

Too Many Books!

My good friend Nancy sent me this belated happy birthday card with this message in it:

"Now, if I could only remember where I put your present!"

I can totally identify with that statement, because I often put future gifts in "safe" places. I had a moment of panic last night when I started looking for daughter MJ's birthday presents, but fortunately found them. . . .after some looking and looking. 

Now those and clothes for colder weather are packed in my suitcase. I am going to visit MJ in Salt Lake City today! Her birthday is on Monday, and I will stay until Election Day. (That is why I voted early.)

In a little while, I will begin driving to San Antonio to the airport there.  Then I'll take two different planes to Salt Lake City via Southwest Airlines. I arrive at almost 11 pm so that MJ is able to meet me after the organic chemistry lab she TA's.

Birthdays are fun. I am glad I'll be with MJ for hers. Plus, I really like the birthday card I received in the mail today!

Cupcake Avery for Halloween

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! Without children at home, I think of Halloween as being connected with candy, so I have bags of chocolate fun bars. None have been opened yet; Chuck and I haven't started snacking on chocolate, which I hope we'll skip this year.

Avery is going to be a cupcake for Halloween. I can hardly wait to see pictures of her!

Two Visits to Austin in October

October 6, 2012 Grandpa and Avery

 Here is a picture of Grandpa Chuck playing with Avery at a park near her house in Austin three weeks ago.

In three weeks, we noticed Avery talking with multiple words and using more words. Her verbal skills are blooming, and she won't be 2 years old until Thanksgiving.

Her parents like to do things with her on the weekends, because she is in school all week while DC and AA are at work. As a mother and grandmother, I really like to watch AA and DC parent Avery.

October 29, 2012 Avery

 This week our daughters from Seattle AE and KA are visiting in Austin, which is why we drove to Austin this past weekend.

Yesterday Avery's parents, oldest son DC and his wife AA, took us all to a pumpkin patch on a farm in Marble Falls, TX. There were all kinds of pumpkins around, with activities, such as this tractor to ride on; bouncing on bouncy "berry fields" (which scared Avery); and painting pumpkins.

Chuck with DC and Avery before her bedtime.

Although our two youngest (of four) children could not join us in Austin, we really enjoyed being with our oldest children and their beloved partners--with Avery! Avery is the star whenever we are all together.

Before we left Austin today, Chuck and I met DC and Avery at her school. I was glad to see where she goes, as I have been impressed with all I have heard about its modes of operation.

October 25

I found this on Facebook today and thought it was funny. It added to a very happy birthday for me today. FB brings wishes from so many people, far and wide.

I started the day off by voting at an early voting locale. It took a long time, but oddly I learned that the man in front of me graduated from high school the same year Chuck and I did--1968--but he lived in Corpus Christi. When I told him I'd graduated in Washington, he asked me where in WA? When I told him "Bellingham," he told me he had just moved back to TX from there. Such an odd connection with a stranger in the line to vote. . . . I am glad I have voted, especially as I will be on a plane back from Salt Lake City to San Antonio on election day.

I love cards, and I got nice cards from many friends. BEST of ALL, I received cards from three of my four children. Friends surprised me by stopping by with little gifts.

And my two oldest children mentioned me on their blogs:

Oldest son DC put a picture of Avery up and oldest daughter AE posted a recipe for applesauce muffins.

  And I realized that I am the age my mother was when my second child (AE) was born in 1982. I like to picture her at the same age, though I realize at the time I thought she was older than I feel now. My perspective has definitely changed.

And for the rest of you, this is notice that it is two months until Christmas. Growing up, I always knew that on my birthday, Christmas was two months away.

Sorry: I'm too busy reading!

I've gotten hooked again on re-reading Patricia Cornwell mysteries. I keep checking them out of the library. This all started because I read her newest book in the spring, as recommended by my friend Paige. I couldn't remember all the past history of Kay Scarpetta, so I'll have to read the last book over when I get to it sequentially.

Besides that, I am still reading Living Buddha, Living Christ for the Wisdom Class and a book about Jung's letters about the God image entitled The New God Image: a Study of Jung's Letters on the Evolution of  the Western God Image, which luckily I purchased as a used book as it is an expensive one outright.

So my blogging is suffering with all this reading. I'm sorry I am not participating more in the blogging world currently. (And I found the image on my pinterest category "About Books.")

God and Politics

Thanks to Crystal on the RevGals FB site for this idea of God enduring our election process!

Happy Fall!

Fall in south Texas: 100 degrees F today! We were told that this is not only a record high temperature for today's date but is also an all-time high temperature for the month of October!

We are waiting for fall weather to arrive. . . . .

Literal reading?

From here.

Friday Five: Late Again!

Today's Friday Five is from Revkjarla at RevGalsBlogPals:

1. Tell us a moment of blessing that you have experienced in the past week.

The blessing that comes immediately to mind is the prayer time I had with my friend Louise yesterday, before the event of the SPIDER! The first time we sat together in silence, our minds raced around for much of the 20 minutes. But the second time, we both sunk into a blessed depth of silence.


This reminds me that meditation with others helps us to go deeper (or maybe not) into the silence of God.

2. Share the first thing/story that comes to mind when you read "When I was a child..."

When I was a child, I always wished I could have brothers and/or sisters--even one of them! I remember I'd ask my parents about this until in 5th grade, my mother told me while we were in the car together that she could not have more children, because they were born too early. After my birth, which was 1 1/2 months premature, four babies died in utero at 4-5 months gestation. I suppose in this day and age, at least one of them might have survived, but not in the 1950's.

3, 4, and 5. If you were the host of a t.v. talk show, what three people would you like to interview on your first show, and what would you ask them.

I would like to interview:

3. Dalai Lama--I liked Revkjarla's answer about him: ask him to share his heart wisdom. I have read that one can sit in a big auditorium and feel the Dalai Lama's PRESENCE even in the back of the room. I would like to meditate with him.

4. Eben Alexander, M.D.--I recently read an article about his new book Proof of Heaven and his experience of being in a coma for seven days when "the neurons of my cortex were stunned to complete inactivity by the bacteria that had attacked them....." First, I want to read his book and then ask him about his memories of this experience of another dimension of consciousness. The book will be published (or released?) on October 23, 2012. I'm sure more questions would arise.

5. Cynthia Bourgeault--I've loved her books. I heard her speak briefly about chanting at a Richard Rohr conference. I would like to ask her more about her experiences after Brother Rafe's death of his presence and what that means to her and to us.

A Day of Spiders, Visiting and Prayer

When we first moved to Texas in 1978, we met a man at a light store who had a huge lump on his arm from a black widow spider's bite. I have continued to hear about poisonous spiders living here in TX, but I have never had a friend or family member bitten by one. I have been frightened of the thought of spider bites.

A spider that looked a lot like the one on the left was on the driver's window and side-mirror on my drive all the way back from Sandia to Corpus Christi this afternoon. That trip takes about an hour.

I worried most of the time that the spider would not be off the car unless I did something. So I finally stopped in Corpus Christi and pushed it aside, only having it scurry to the bottom of the car.

Being too scared of the spider, imagining such fatal things as one of our dogs being bitten--by a presumably poisonous spider (Nothing like extreme reactions on my part!), I drove over to our local HEB supermarket that has both gas pumps and a car wash. I decided that a car wash should knock the spider off the vehicle, which I am still hoping for.

I only noticed that the spider was black with white spots, so googling that description brought the picture above--of a "bold jumping spider." According to Wikipedia, the jumping spider has distinctive green eyes. I didn't notice that, as I mainly watched its bottom on the window. So perhaps the spider was a jumping spider, which is not poisonous, but whose bite might cause allergic reactions.

So that was a dramatic end to a day of visiting my friend Louise who lives on a ranch in Sandia. Driving there, I drove through various thunderstorms, but it was sunny on my return--just "clouded" with the spider!

We had a good day of visiting, along with two periods of silence for contemplative prayer. Neither of us has been practicing meditation twice a day, so this was a nudge in the right direction. The second prayer time is reinforced in our minds and hearts, because both of us were more deeply in prayer than the first time today.

What's Wrong with This World

"There is an idea that has taken root in this world, that is at the root of everything that is wrong with this world, and that idea is that some lives matter more than others. At Homeboy Industries, the most important thing that we do is to say: you matter, you count, you are worth something." -- Fr. Greg Boyle

This was on Facebook yesterday. I liked the quote so much that I wanted it on my blog along with this picture of Father Gregory Boyle affirming this young man. I admire him and his organization of Homeboy Industries very much.

If you have not read Father G's book Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, you should! Anne Lamott says about this book:

"An astonishing book . . . about suffering and dignity, death and resurrection, one of my favorite books in years. It is lovely and tough and tender beyond my ability to describe and left me in tears of both sorrow and laughter."

She aptly describes how I feel about this book.

By e.e.cummings

I have always loved poems by e.e.cummings. I keep being surprised by his faith.

i am a little church(no great cathedral)
far from the splendor and squalor of hurrying cities
-i do not worry if briefer days grow briefest,
i am not sorry when sun and rain make april

my life is the life of the reaper and the sower;
my prayers are prayers of earth's own clumsily striving
(finding and losing and laughing and crying)children
whose any sadness or joy is my grief or my gladness

around me surges a miracle of unceasing
birth and glory and death and resurrection:
over my sleeping self float flaming symbols
of hope,and i wake to a perfect patience of mountains

i am a little church(far from the frantic
world with its rapture and anguish)at peace with nature
-i do not worry if longer nights grow longest;
i am not sorry when silence becomes singing

winter by spring,i lift my diminutive spire to
merciful Him Whose only now is forever:
standing erect in the deathless truth of His presence
(welcoming humbly His light and proudly His darkness)

~ e.e.cummings ~

(Complete Poems 1904-1962)

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Avery!

Friday Five: No Time!

Today's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals is about art. I can't whip that out before leaving town, as I never think of myself as creative or artsy. Though I DO like art! Thanks to Rev. Pat Raube for bringing this Friday Five!

The only "creative" thing I do is blog (sometimes). Many "used to's" like baking and writing letters could be classified as "creative," but those are not done too much these days. Not artsy, but towards the creative side--I've started taking piano lessons!

What's taking up time right now is getting ready to leave town (for only the weekend) to visit Avery and her parents in Austin! Yay! What is holding up our departure is my almost-forgotten-haircut appointment at 12:15. So before driving to that, there are preparations to be made. We are lucky that a friend is coming over to stay with our pets.

So to lighten the mood, here is a cute cartoon I found on Pinterest (which is under my favorite label "About Books"):

Avery at School

Avery shouting "Hooray!" during her school's parents' night, with her mommy and daddy nearby.

50 State Salute to Banned Books

With thanks to Banned Books Challenge Blog.

Bill Moyers on Banned Books

Bill Moyers talks for about three minutes about banned books on his website, but I didn't know how to embed the video here. Instead, I copied the printed transcript below.

Bill Moyers on banned books:

"When I was growing up in East Texas we didn’t have any money for books. My reading room was the small local library run by an organization of business professional women. To this moment, I can remember checking out my first two volumes -- one was Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days; the other was a primer on Greek and Roman mythology (don’t ask me why.)

"Years later, when I walked into the much larger library at the state college as a freshman, I was practically overwhelmed. I looked down row after row of books and periodicals and thought: “Wow! All this for me?!” Some of the best hours of my life were spent in that library. I even considered majoring in library science, so that I could be near those books.

"Which is one reason it pains me today that even in this modern day and age, some folks in communities across America are saying: “No. That Book ISN’T For You” and for reasons that have nothing to do with the community, the school, or the reader -- and everything to do with prejudice.

"The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom reports 326 attempts last year to remove or restrict books from school curricula and libraries. Add those to thousands of formal complaints filed with a library or school in the last two decades -- complaints about a book’s content or appropriateness. Can you believe some people don’t want other people to read Brave New World, The Color Purple, To Kill A Mockingbird, Catcher in the Rye, Of Mice and Men, The Kite Runner, A Wrinkle in Time, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, A Light in the Attic, the Harry Potter series, and – ironic if not surprising – Fahrenheit 451.

"Think of it: some of the most inspiring and mind-opening words ever written, threatened with removal because they offended a self-deputized vigilante over who wants to deny an entire community’s curiosity and passion to learn.

"Censorship is the enemy of truth -- even more than a lie. A lie can be exposed; censorship can prevent us knowing the difference. This is one reason that on my public television broadcast, Moyers & Company, we call out the censors every time we can. And it’s why we’re so grateful to the ALA – as well as the librarians, writers, booksellers, publishers, and neighbors who stand with the Association in observing the 30th anniversary of Banned Books Week, taking place this year from September 30 – October 6.
Banned Books Week reminds us of the foundation of our freedom -- the First Amendment -- and the freedom of all of us – including our kids – to read and think and nurture the life of the mind.

"You can learn more about banned books and banned books week at BillMoyers.com, ALA-DOT-ORG-SLASH-B-BOOKS, bannedbooksweek.org, or your local bookstore or library. Let’s tell the censors -- nothing doing."

 

(Thanks to Bonnie for sending me the embedding link.)

Banned Books Week: Censorship

Banned Books Week is all about censorship. George Bernard Shaw gives us hope that it will be reduced to "absurdity," but the years that the same books remain on banned book lists belies that.

Go here for the most frequently challenged books per decade.

To start off Banned Books Week, our local Half Price Books sponsored a Read-Out with the local ACLA chapter this past Saturday. There were perennial favorites, like Lolita, read. However I read from Shel Silverstein's A Light in the Attic. The poems are funny and sarcastic and fun to read--and people laughed! Here's one with an illustration: