Making Shakespeare kid-friendly, and kids theater-friendly

Several years ago, Headmistress and The Headmaster at The Common Room decided to take a bunch of kids, various ages, to a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Tell me that what the three-year-old did during intermission isn't priceless. Just try. :)

Other "children and Shakespeare" posts here and here (and here and here).

Getting his goat against the odds

A couple of weeks or so ago I learned about a hunter who'd collapsed while hunting in mountains not terribly far from here (by Oregon reckoning, which measures distance in hours instead of miles). The man had altitude sickness, and had to be eased off the mountain and rushed to the hospital. Altitude sickness isn't something you hear about very much around here. But, then, most of our towns are somewhere near 3,000 feet, give or take, and mountain passes generally don't run much above 5,000, if that. But this guy was hunting up at 8,000, and he lives not much above sea level, and it floored him. Worse yet, he was goat hunting. Almost no one is given a goat tag, and those lucky guys who do get one are never allowed to have another one. You either get your goat, or you give up your dream of getting a goat. The last I'd heard, he was determined to get back before the tag expired and hunt some more. I don't quite know if this constitutes grit or craziness, but then I'm not a hunter.

I told my husband about this. He came back to me later to report that the little radio station from Ketchikan, Alaska, that he sometimes listens to online had picked up on the story, and the deejays were having a heyday with it. "Did you hear that a guy got altitude sickness in Oregon? Oregon! They have mountains in Oregon?" That sort of thing, with much laughter. (And, yes, thank you, we have mountains in Oregon. Also deserts. Also the deepest river gorge in North America, which you can't have if you don't have a highish place to go down from. It's a rather misunderstood state, geographically speaking.)

But, anyway, we'd heard about this guy, and his pledge to come back and hunt, so I checked the Baker paper to see if there was a follow-up story. There is. Thank you, reporter Jayson Jacoby.

Oh, my. The guy came back. And the misadventures continued - including, believe it or not, his truck breaking down half a block from our house. I didn't know this. The small town grapevine is vastly overrated. Gary Martin, a hunter who is being talked about from here to Alaska and I don't know where else, comes back to Central/Eastern Oregon after getting out of the hospital - he's sneering at death to get his goat, he's... he's... he's right in the middle of his proverbial fifteen minutes of fame and he has to be rescued within sight of my house, and I have to read about it in an out-of-county newspaper? Like I said, the grapevine around here sometimes is vastly overrated. (Alicia, we need to talk, girl. I'm sure Paul must have known, and he should have told you, and you could have told David, who would have told me... ;)

Anyway, congratulations on getting your goat, Mr. Martin, and I hope your health improves. I hope you don't mind me spreading your story about. Town's full of hunters right now, and these guys seem to like to hear about a hunter having crazy luck, both good and bad. Maybe especially the bad luck. Go figure.

Happy Belated Birthday to PalmTree Pundit

Happy blog birthday, that is. Anne's been blogging for two years now.

(I don't know about you, but I have to wait until the middle of next February until I can say that.)

Is wonderful country

See Wittingshire: A Perspective from Krakow to hear from somebody who appreciates America. Or, perhaps I should say, appreciates Americans.

See Gentle Warrior and The Soldier and the Boy at A Rose By Any Other Name for another couple of reasons to be proud of this country.

Zorro DVDs, finally (sort of)

OK, the DVDs are only available to members of The Disney Movie Club, and they're the colorized versions (I prefer the original black and white), but finally, there are some episodes of the classic Zorro series starring Guy Williams available in the United States. (France has had some for a couple of years). Bill Cotter has the story.

Danielle Bean, on a roll

Danielle Bean has several good posts lately, among them one that features apple recipes (yum), one on people who treat nutrition as a religion, a bit of wisdom out of the mouths of babes (well, one babe, anyway), and, my personal favorite, a post on being carded by a clerk who missed his golden chance to be charming. (If anyone catches any of our attendants acting like this I want to know about it!)

Oh, OK, one more. She's leading a discussion on making the princess stage of a little girl's life a good thing, and not a slide into an exercise in materialism or immodesty (apparently the modern Disney princesses aren't as sweet as they used to be).

Update: I want to make it clear to BookStation customers who might be reading this that we didn't start selling anything that requires carding while you weren't looking. It's the attitude toward customers to which I was referring.

"Radical conversion"

The Orange County Register recently ran a three part feature story on the background of an American who does propaganda work for al-Qaida (aka Al Qaeda). Bad enough as it would be in any case, the radical's grandfather was a Jewish man known for his humanitarian work. A secular Jew, to be sure, but still... When the series was titled "Radical conversion" I'm pretty sure they meant it in more ways than one.

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

hat tip: Cheat-Seeking Missiles (Part One, Part Two, Part Three)

(note: Cheat-Seeking Missiles takes on some topics we avoid over here. And the tone isn't always what we'd like. Fair warning.)

Sometimes, you really can...

... make lemonade when life hands you lemons, I guess. There Melissa Wiley was, facing agonizingly long nights at the hospital while her cancer-stricken daughter fought for her life, and...

And she agreed to write the Martha books in the Little House series. Hey, it beat brooding. :)

(If you think this meant that she spent less time with her daughter, you haven't been reading her blog. This is definitely a devoted mommy we're talking about. Her family is in the middle of moving from the Blue Ridge Mountains all the way across the country to California, by the way, so don't expect tooooo much from her at the moment. But really, it's one of my favorite blogs. See here and here for a couple of reasons why.)

Yargh

You may have noticed I haven't been posting as much as usual. There are several reasons for that.

Blogger has been having one of its infamous rough patches: sometimes I can't log in, sometimes when I've written a post I can't post it, that sort of thing. I'm acquiring a notable archive of emails to myself, with "url for when blogger comes back up" in the subject line. I understand that these glitchy times will happen. I am trying to be patient. I am also debating taking the plunge to the new version of Blogger, which is in beta. I don't know that it would help, but Google seems to be ramping up its encouragement to switch. Since I'm not paying them anything, I figure the least I can do is take their requests to heart. (But it requires opening another account, and I can't shake the feeling I've got too many online accounts as it is. Besides, I finally got this template how I like it.)

As a side note, because I haven't switched to the new version, I am what is now being called a legacy blogger. No, really. Is it just me, or is there something humorous, perhaps ludicrous, about being called a legacy blogger?

The betting window is open. How long will she hold out...

No, don't tell me what your guesses are. It's embarrassing. I'll switch soon. Probably. Maybe.

This all falls at a time when I've been busier than usual with work and home projects of one sort and another - including hours of typing every day. I don't have the time to blog that I used to, and my hands are about at their limit.

What I probably ought to do is declare a hiatus. But Plan A is to test the waters now and then and toss posts up when the connections seem good for a change. At any rate, since in the past I went offline pretty much only for family emergencies I thought I'd mention that it's not that this time (thank goodness, knock wood).

Byron Nelson's legacy

Golf legend Byron Nelson has died at age 94. What has struck me, reading tributes to him, is that so many people stress what an all-around nice guy the man was. See Nelson's legacy stretches far and wide by Tim Rosaforte of Golf Digest for my favorite tribute so far. The Scotsman has some tributes from other greats of the game.

"You Don't Know the Half of It"

Been there. More or less. (Haven't you?)

Dictionary Men column (aka Stump the wordsmiths)

Too fun. Here's a column devoted to the meaning and history of words and phrases. There's even a place at the bottom to submit questions.

The archive is here.

Suggestions on where you can go...

Here are some articles/posts I've found interesting:

Freedom and Justice in Islam, by Bernard Lewis (Imprimis September 2006) Highly recommended look at today's situation, with historical perspective.

Thousands attend 'Wear Red Friday' rally on Parliament Hill (CBC News) Canadians show support for their troops.

Let's Give It A Rest (Captain's Quarters, September 22, 2006) Argues that it's time to concentrate on our real enemies instead of poisoning the atmosphere with old arguments.

Swiss Back Tougher Asylum Laws (Deutsche Welle, September 24, 2006) Swiss voters approve tougher immigration rules by a wide margin. A related post, Switzerland Battens Down the Hatches Against Foreigners (Deutsche Welle, September 25, 2006), looks at the response from papers around Europe.

Spain Pushes for European Response to Illegal Immigration (Deutsche Welle, September 21, 2006). For background, see Spanish Minister Says EU "Lacks Commitment" on Immigration (Deutsche Welle, August 31, 2006)

"Tidiness?" (Expat Yank, September 24, 2006) A cemetery in the UK has adopted a policy of burying everyone lined up toward Mecca.

Notes from Daddyland

Jared Keller is father to a toddler. This has affected what he eats for lunch. This also has convinced him that the "Terrible Twos" are vastly over-advertised - at least in comparison with life with a three-year-old girl. Heh.

At least he's still able to laugh. And write in complete sentences. :)

Thesaurus Precum Latinarum

I stumbled across Thesaurus Precum Latinarum today. It's primarily a "Treasury of Latin Prayers" but it also has numerous related links, English translations and background material. I thought some of you might find it a handy resource? (I'm out of my depth when it comes to Latin, etc.)

Book note: Mr. Popper's Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atwater

Thanks to Jen Robinson I know that a children's classic is in the spotlight in Florida. Sara Isaac has the story (Orlando Sentinel, September 17, 2006):

A warm-hearted and comic children's chapter book about a house painter and his troupe of trained penguins is the Orlando Sentinel's pick for its 2007 One Book One Community literacy campaign.

Mr. Popper's Penguins will anchor the Sentinel's six-week community reading program, which kicks off in January.

This 1938 book by Richard and Florence Atwater has charmed generations of young readers with its endearing tale of mild-mannered Mr. Popper, and the troubles that arise when he unexpectedly receives a penguin as a gift.

Mr. Popper's fascination with reading and travel, and the antics of his growing family of exotic birds also make the book popular with elementary and middle-school teachers, because it provides a jumping-off point for lessons and activities in science, language arts and history.

Sentinel spokeswoman Cindy Williams says the newspaper wanted to return to the classics after last year's contemporary selection, Esperanza Rising. The challenge was to find a book that would be easy for budding readers but also would interest older students.

The adventures that face Mr. and Mrs. Popper and their two children as they figure out how to feed and care for 12 emperor penguins give the book wide appeal, she says.

"It's just fun," Williams says. "Here are these kids that get to have penguins as pets. It's just like every kid's fantasy."

One Book One Community, which is heading into its sixth year, encourages Central Florida children -- and the adults in their lives -- to read the same book. It was launched in 2002 as part of the Sentinel's Reading by Nine literacy initiative, which aims to have all area schoolchildren reading at grade level by age 9, when students must make the switch from learning to read, to reading to learn...

Full article


Mr. Popper's Penguins

Hats off to the Orlando Sentinel for picking this oldie but goodie.

Life lessons

Bracha Kurtzer lists 10 Reasons Why Life Is Like Riding A Bike (aish.com, Sept. 10, 2006).

Regarding requests for ethnic labels

Hmmm. I'm trying to remember (it's late - don't ask too much from my brain just now), but I think it was for the 1990 census that, when asked to which ethnic group I felt I belonged, I checked the "Other" box and wrote in "American." (There's an outside chance I did this for the 1980 census, but I think it was the 1990 one.) At any rate, I was still writing my newspaper column and I made my wee bit of 'civil disobedience' (if you can call it that) the subject of one of my columns. Oh, my. Friends and colleagues wished me luck, predicted I'd be in trouble with the government the rest of my born days, and declared themselves admiring of my bravery but afraid to follow in my footsteps. It was an amazing experience. People actually were afraid to refuse to be a hyphenated American, if a hyphenated American was what the government wanted. For that matter, that particular year (whichever it was), I have to admit I hesitated before I did what I did. There was an undercurrent of feeling that you had to play along with the race-division game or expect repercussions. I know it's pathetic, but, well, sometimes the citizenry doesn't entirely trust its bureaucracies to be reliably sane. Imagine that.

That we're still having to fight our own public servants for the right to not be sliced and diced into little slivers of often-artificial subgroups is a bit disappointing. But Katie seems up to the task. Go, girl!

Update: I probably shouldn't post when I'm that tired. Sorry. I should have made it clear the battle isn't just with public servants at various levels. In Katie's case, for instance, it's with the administration at a private university.

That's some 40th birthday trip

Anousheh Ansari turned 40 on September 12 and today she's on the International Space Station, as a paying tourist. That's the spirit.

I could have done without all the news reports (including the ones to which I link above) doing major song and dance about her being "the first woman space tourist." Note to news agencies: Somebody being the first woman this or the first woman that is soooo, like, 1970s. You know?

Honestly, I have visions of all sorts of aging feminists running around newsrooms pulling their hair and getting ulcers because they're running out of artificial frontiers to cross. (Is it uncharitable to be looking forward to their retirement?)

Update: I'm not sure I made myself clear in the above. What I want to get across is that since space tourism became a reality after women astronauts became commonplace, there wasn't any idea, as far as I know, of it ever being a men's-only activity. Therefore, to make a big deal out of a woman being a space tourist because she's a woman is either totally contrived enthusiasm (which doesn't seem likely) or else a knee-jerk reaction (which strikes me as more likely, but hardly excusable at a news organization, I think). At any rate, whatever is behind it, I find it rather patronizing, don't you?

On Pope Benedict and Muslims

I hope quite a few people read this Richard John Neuhaus post on the Pope and his ongoing dialog with Muslims, both for what it says about what the Pope actually has said and done, and for its history lessons. I think he does a nice job of putting current controversies into perspective.

In the post, he also recommends the following book by Mary Habeck (Yale University Press, January 2006):


Knowing the Enemy: Jihadist Ideology and the War on Terror

In another First Things post, Robert Louis Wilken looks at the quote the Pope used the other day that so riled some people, and puts it into historical context.