Sex in a Library, A Challenge

I swear on all that is holy that MySpace blogs are long overdue for a "Literature" category.

Okay, kids, you have one month (and one day, to be precise) until National Banned Book Week, as designated by the American Library Association.

You can read all about it over there, but the purpose of Banned Book Week is to bring awareness to challenges to books in school libraries and curriculum.

Censorship is not an effective way to "protect" children.

I've directed your attention to Banned Book Week before but this year, I'd be positively tickled if you would all look at this map. It's a graphic of books that have been challenged in schools since 2007, and those are only the reported cases of attempts to have books banned.

Most go unreported.

I know, I sound dramatic. Get over it.

I challenge you: in this month leading up to Banned Book Week (to be clear, this takes place September 26-October 3), choose a book on the above-linked map to read. Write a blog about the book, how you liked it, why you think it was challenged and if you would want your kids to read it. Publish your blog during Banned Book Week and I'll post a link to your blog.

Naturally, I'll remind you about this and, if you participate, ask you to change your avatar on 9/26 in recognition of Banned Book Week:

I will give you extra credit if you get it on in a library in the next month, we'll have to set up some kind of non-incriminating code so you can report about it in your blog. I'm open to suggestions for this. :-)

P.S. If none of the books on the map strike your fancy, choose from this list of the top 100 challenged classics of the 20th century.

P.P.S. I have chosen Ernest Gaines' A Lesson Before Dying, challenged for its sexual content and profanity.

Because the thing below isn't working, I'm currently reading Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.

"Summer 2009"

I keep seeing that on friends' photo albums over on Facebook. I still prefer MySpace because of the blogging and don't update my photos as often over on FB. Alas, since my summer isn't even half over, you won't be seeing any "Summer 2009" albums for a bit.

I haven't done a stew in awhile so I'll keep up the summer theme.

I've been very busy and have had little time for keeping up with my letter writing and blog reading (also Maranda pointed out that I'm slacking in the blog-writing dept.) but I have been reading books, so that's always good. My favorite so far this summer was Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut.

If you ever need book suggestions, this blog rocks.

Boys, shield your eyes.

I've become suceptible to UTIs in my old age. Never had them in my life until a year and a half ago and have since had three. I can't pin down any single cause. Since I have devoted my summer to accepting compensation from the Unemployment Insurance Agency, I have a pretty good system of sleeping in when my kids aren't here. This UTI bs has me up in the morning a good hour and a half before I want to be. Boo.

Speaking of the kids.

They're in IN for a month with their dad and I hate it. I thought it would be easier this year, I thought wrong. I talk to them nearly everyday and have been writing to them. My, my. I can't imagine what it would be like for a parent with children who do not want to spend time with the ex-spouse. At least my kids are happy when they're with their dad and I can take a tiny bit of solace in that. While they've been gone, Alex lost a toenail (it was on its way before he left due to an unfortunate stubbing incident) and Jenna is reading Twilight.

I suppose it's time I come out with my review of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Previously, I have been lucky enough to divorce my opinion of the movies from the books. The movies have had their fair share of deletions and embellishments as is necessary in these sort of adaptations and I have loved every single one of them as their own franchise, separate from the books. Not so with this last one. The deletions and embellishments detracted from the story too much for me and I left the theater thinking the franchise had strayed and the unique characterization that was previously maintained has been compromised. I don't like to say these things, I am a hardcore HP fan, after all. I'm going to take the kids to see it when it leaves the theater and hits our local $3 theater to give it another shot. Until then, as always, I remain loyal to the house of Ravenclaw.

I love my new Blackberry Tour more than life itself. Aside from being a mama, falling in love, and having a kick ass Asian, it's the best thing going for me right now. Thanks, bitchy sister for getting me a better phone to replace the one that sucked. My Blackberry is smarter than Einstein!

My friend Leslie sent me a great article about a teen who is suing Amazon because he was using his Kindle while writing a report in which he made extensive electronic notations to Nineteen Eighty-Four. Amazon deleted the book from his Kindle over a copywrite issue and his notes became meaningless as they pointed to a book that no longer existed. There really is a great deal of irony in the situation. Anyhoot, this is one of the bigger complaints against Kindle, an issue I have not had. I still love my Kindle. More than my Blackberry, even.

My Kindle Ate my Homework

Like I said, the summer isn't over yet. I'm off to an adult only (I like saying that, makes me feel like not having my kids with me is a choice) canoe trip this weekend. The following weekend, I'm heading to LA with my boyfriend and his parents for a family wedding. We'll be there for a few days and then will be spending a few in Kansas City. We're wrapping up the summer with a bonfire. After that, you'll see my "Summer 2009" photo album. In the meantime, here's one of some guy I don't know from the "Boat Night 2009" album. (Boat Night, as you may remember from last year, is the night before the Port Huron to Mackinac sailboat race in which all who are sailing and all who aren't come from miles around to drink themselves silly in our downtown area.)

Okay, I have to go sloth on the beach with my sister-out-law and my Asian. Have a nice day.

Chasing a Train

The Nickel Plate Road 765 weighs 404 tons, goes over 60 mph and keeps an elite company as one of the very small group of steam engines that are still operational.

LEGO company was born in Denmark in 1934 but it wasn't until 1949 that the evolution of wooden to plastic toys produced by the company became what it is now.

The Pere Marquette 1225 is the same size and sister to the 765. It's the only operable 2-8-4 Pere Marquette steam engine. To build the engine today, one would need 2.5 million dollars. The 1225 became famous in 2004 when its blueprints were used to design the Polar Express, featured in the Oscar-nominated movie by the same name which, in turn, was based upon the award-winning children's book by Michigan author Chris Van Allsburg.

Sub-cultures run rampant in our society. We have Trekkies, Harry Potter nerds (*shoots hand up in air*), and Weezer fans (*again with the hand*). I've recently become exposed to the Train Geeks, the group to which my boyfriend belongs.

At the hub of the Train Geek culture are festivals where said geeks can go and see a variety of real life, operable and otherwise, engines, model train sets (including the most awesome LEGO model I've ever seen, though not the largest), maps, art and literature featuring trains. It so happens that the largest such festival in America is Trainfestival 90 minutes away in Owosso, MI. *fist pump*

When we attended on Sunday, I had no possible way of knowing what I was about to see. Thousands of people come from who-knows-where to stand in hour-long lines for the chance to spend 120 seconds in an engine. Tents upon tents of impossible to navigate crowds hoarde around massive model train sets.

But that's not what the bad ass train enthusiasts do. Nope. Bad ass train enthusiasts hop aboard the motorcycle, ignoring the 70% chance of rain and they chase a train.

A day in the life of a train chaser.

1) See train off at start point.

2) Run like the wind to car in effort to be the first in the pack of dozens to try and beat train to next crossing. Alternatively: Decide at last minute after watching scores of people leave start point to head for their cars that it really is okay to chase a train on a motorcycle. Why the hell not? Run to motorcycle, put on helmet, and GO!

3) Look for steam on the horizon as biggest clue of train's present location. Go that way.

4) After what may be several *PWNs* by fast train or 10 miles of weaving down back country roads, finally beat train to crossing.

5) Get out of car (motorcycle), take pictures/video of train crossing.

6) If in car, repeat steps 1-5 until train reaches destination.

It seems silly, but I can't begin to describe how exhilarating it was. Maybe part of that is all of the other people doing the same thing. Anyhow, it was super fun and I hope to do it again someday.

In the video I took from my perch on the back of the bike, we are approaching the crossing. You can see a couple of cars in front of us and on the other side of the track. You can see my train geek boyfriend jumping off and leaving me in the dust to run up while simutaneously trying to wrench his camera from his pocket (HOT, there's nothing in the world like a nerdy boy). After the train goes by, you can see a woman beginning the run back to her car (there's also a man behind me who you can't see) to do it all over again.

Book Tag

“Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen books you've read that will always stick with you. First fifteen you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.”

A Tag from Dew(ed). She didn't actually tag me. She didn't actually tag anyone. I gave myself an invitation.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle- It was the first book I read cover to cover in a day and may, then, be directly responsible for my love of reading. I think I was in Fourth grade. My daughter has not finished it, she says she likes it but I think she's just aware of how much I liked it and doesn't want to "let me down." Maybe I'll steal it from her and re-read it and rediscover whatever it is that turned me into a reader.

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald- When I read it in high school, I was in love with every word on every page. Now, it's nothing short of disappointing. Why do I include it if I don't like it? Books have infinite power, including reminding us how much we've changed. While the book gets me nostalgic for simpler times, I can also see an evolution of my preferences in writing.

Conversely,

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee- Didn't like it in high school, don't know how anyone could not love it now. Maybe it took becoming a parent but the portraits painted of the characters in Ms. Lee's lone published novel encapusulate every trait we should strive to possess and all we should fight against. If I were to ever have another daughter, I would lobby heavily for the name "Nell."

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller- I've read it three times and liked it more each time. So laugh out loud funny and so sad at the same time. Hello, triumphant human spirit.

Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote- The most beautiful writing. Ever.

Devil in the White City by Erik Larson- The book that showed me that non-fiction doesn't have to be boring. Quite the contrary, it can be chilling and magnificent.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card- Orson Scott Card's foresight serves as a perfect backdrop for an amazing story that takes the good v. evil theme to depths most stories only touch on the surface.

Brave New World by Aldous Huxley- The ultimate functionalist society. Chilling.

The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand- While I see holes in her philosophy that the 19 year old Melissa never did, these are two of the most important works of fiction ever written and every reader should read them, love her or hate her. Even if I don't embrace everything it means, Howard Roark will always be perfect to me.

The Winter of Our Discontent by John Steinbeck- It's hard to pick a favorite Steinbeck but this must be it. Ethan holds tight to values that will never get his family all that glitters. A very honest book.

And speaking of honesty,

Sonny's Blues by James Baldwin- A short story, maybe novella, actually. I dare you to read it and not want to finish it on the spot.

Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky- It took me a looong time to "get into" this book but I was so glad I did. Perhaps it's because I never tire of the good v. evil story and this had so many layers to it. Politics, society, self. It still makes me think.

Roll your eyes it you want to,

Harry Potter the entire series by J.K. Rowling- Unlike Ender, we got to see Harry experience some actual childhood, perhaps making it all the more bitter to see his youth compromised. The books are incredible and my only disappointment is how tidily everything was packaged up at the end. As an aside, the movies are likely the least disappointing reproductions of books ever. New movie in one week!!! Excuse me while I go touch myself.

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett- Actually a play but I've read my copy several times and struggle in public not to do so out loud. The dialog is musical. Never has a story of utter uselessness felt so good. If you like Samuel Beckett, YouTube "Play" with Alan Rickman. The whole thing is on there and I often forget to breathe when I'm watching it.

Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger- My favorite Salinger, even more so than Catcher in the Rye. Great commentary on religion and, oh, how I fell in love with Zooey.

A Good Title Eludes Me

Today you're getting four for the price of one. Happy/sad stew, if you will:

My mother is hard to look at right now. She found out a bit ago that she has pre-cancerous cells growing on her face and is currently at the tail end of a round of topical chemotherapy. It's like getting a chemical peel everyday for two weeks. She can't go out in the sun. She's not even 50 yet and today, as we were sitting in the shade planning for our camping trip next weekend, I stared at the varying degrees of skin erosion and thought non-stop about how much this needs to work so she doesn't have to go through it for nothing. Because, if she's just going to have to go through intravenous chemo, couldn't she have done it with every layer of her beautiful face intact?

***

I've taken up golfing and am horrible at it. I'd be even worse if we didn't play with special rules. When we want to use a special rule, we must say "I invoke-" and then:

"-the 5 foot rule!" If the ball lands anywhere between 5 and 15 feet of where we were standing when we swung at it, it doesn't count as a stroke.

"-the throw me another ball rule!" If our drive blows when we tee off, we can go again (up to 2 additional drives!) and not count it.

"-the mud puddle rule!" If it rained at some point and the course is damp, it will likely have puddles somewhere. If the ball lands in a puddle big enough to make a splash, as it would in a pond, we can remove the ball from the puddle and drop it, like we would if it landed in a pond.

"-the I should've got that in rule!" If that ball is only 3 inches from the hole and I still don't make it, I'm counting it as in. Period.

***

Today I said goodbye to my brother, his wife, and my nephews. They're leaving to make a new life in Tennessee. I know that's what people do, but it is so hard to see him go. No one in my family has ever left before.

***

Thursday I say hello to Grau Geist and Friday to Delilah. Yay for MyFriends and real-life meet-ups!