Last week, a Republican candidate could not believe her opponent's claim that "separation of church of state" was in the First Amendment. During a news story on this debate, another conservative candidate said that the phrase "separation of church and state" came from a Fascist leader.
So, I looked it up. Of course the words "separation of church and state" are not in the Constitution. The Constitution says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
THOMAS JEFFERSON used the words "separation of church from state" in a letter to a church that expressed concern that the new government might infringe on religious freedoms.
During his presidency, Ulysses S.Grant made a speech where he suggested that church and state be forever separated.
Neither Jefferson nor Grant were known to be fascists - or Nazis as that conservative candidate claimed.
Other stuff that people believe that are not true. Our taxes have NOT gone up since Obama was elected. 98% of working Americans have received a cut in their federal income taxes. We just get a little bit more in each check, rather than a single check.
The "bailout" will cost our children and grandchildren billions. The "bailout" will cost the government 1/10th of what it was estimated to cost and several large financial institutions have already repaid the money they received. This cost is less than what we paid out in the 1980s.
The inheritance tax will wipe out everything you've worked for. Well, yeah if you're worth more than 3.5 million. I'm not worth that much!!!
Why do people just assume that candidates that shout the loudest or make the funniest insulting remarks are telling the truth? Why don't people check the facts? There are objective books and websites that ferret out the truth. Read the Constitution yourselves, people. Don't believe every nasty thing people tell you. AND do your homework BEFORE you vote. Not after loudmouth know-nothings get in and make things worse.
Oh and the "bailout"? Bush - a conservative - was in office when that was voted in. And that's the truth.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
Teen Library Events?
Howdy strangers! Long time and all that, eh?
Some random thoughts on library events for teens.
So, in the summer I asked a bunch of teens, "What nights - or days during the school year- are best for teen events?" And the answer I got was "Never on a school night." "Saturdays in the day - not so good."
Well, this leaves me in a bind since the library is only open Mon. through Thur. nights and it closes at 5 on Fri. and Sat. So, I countered, "Would you come out for an event on a Friday night?"
And the answer was an enthusiastic, "Yes!"
OR so I remember.
Last night, I held my first ever school year "after hours" teen program on a Friday. (I have held two Saturday night programs during the school year in my 2 decades at this library. They were not well attended. Summer Saturdays are better.)
Last night, the presenter did a fine job of marshaling the creative juices of the audience and we wrote the first verse and chorus of a song! The event was fun and well prepared and carried out. A Songwriting Workshop with a knowledgeable and experienced musician, who has a degree in music and broadcasting experience - this should bring in a lot of teens, right?. How many teens signed up? A mere handful, alas. How many showed up? Half of those who signed up. There was food and I gave out door prizes - including a guitar strap with the name of the band, "My Chemical Romance" etched on it. (Oh and a pirate pistol!!! and Burt's Bees lip gloss and a couple of books and some other stuff.)
I'm blaming the lack of teen presence on football. And in January, the excuse will be the weather. In the spring, there is soccer and SAT prep and prom and date nights and the mall. There's always the mall. I'm thinking that the library is just not where the teens in our library's service area want to be "after hours". UNLESS, I let them dress up in costumes and scare little kids....OR stay up all night reading and making me insane. Hmmm, insurance nightmare? OR mental nightmare? Which should I choose?
It's a conundrum. That's what it is. HOWEVER, the lyrics of the song will be posted on this blog on Monday because they were GOOD (if I do say so myself). Perhaps, we can have a contest to see who can write the best second and third verses. I recorded most of the song with my little pocket sized video camera and if the musician agrees, I might post that here as well. Just so you know how the melody goes.
In the meantime, I will continue my attempts to offer meaningful, fun teen events that teens will actually attend. Wish me luck.
Oh, I want to make sure you don't get the wrong idea. Our library is FULL of teens, reading, working on school stuff, and volunteering. They are in and out of the YS office all the time. If they can get volunteer hours for an event, I can gather a huge bunch of them. But no credit, no show. Sigh. What happened to FUN?
Some random thoughts on library events for teens.
So, in the summer I asked a bunch of teens, "What nights - or days during the school year- are best for teen events?" And the answer I got was "Never on a school night." "Saturdays in the day - not so good."
Well, this leaves me in a bind since the library is only open Mon. through Thur. nights and it closes at 5 on Fri. and Sat. So, I countered, "Would you come out for an event on a Friday night?"
And the answer was an enthusiastic, "Yes!"
OR so I remember.
Last night, I held my first ever school year "after hours" teen program on a Friday. (I have held two Saturday night programs during the school year in my 2 decades at this library. They were not well attended. Summer Saturdays are better.)
Last night, the presenter did a fine job of marshaling the creative juices of the audience and we wrote the first verse and chorus of a song! The event was fun and well prepared and carried out. A Songwriting Workshop with a knowledgeable and experienced musician, who has a degree in music and broadcasting experience - this should bring in a lot of teens, right?. How many teens signed up? A mere handful, alas. How many showed up? Half of those who signed up. There was food and I gave out door prizes - including a guitar strap with the name of the band, "My Chemical Romance" etched on it. (Oh and a pirate pistol!!! and Burt's Bees lip gloss and a couple of books and some other stuff.)
I'm blaming the lack of teen presence on football. And in January, the excuse will be the weather. In the spring, there is soccer and SAT prep and prom and date nights and the mall. There's always the mall. I'm thinking that the library is just not where the teens in our library's service area want to be "after hours". UNLESS, I let them dress up in costumes and scare little kids....OR stay up all night reading and making me insane. Hmmm, insurance nightmare? OR mental nightmare? Which should I choose?
It's a conundrum. That's what it is. HOWEVER, the lyrics of the song will be posted on this blog on Monday because they were GOOD (if I do say so myself). Perhaps, we can have a contest to see who can write the best second and third verses. I recorded most of the song with my little pocket sized video camera and if the musician agrees, I might post that here as well. Just so you know how the melody goes.
In the meantime, I will continue my attempts to offer meaningful, fun teen events that teens will actually attend. Wish me luck.
Oh, I want to make sure you don't get the wrong idea. Our library is FULL of teens, reading, working on school stuff, and volunteering. They are in and out of the YS office all the time. If they can get volunteer hours for an event, I can gather a huge bunch of them. But no credit, no show. Sigh. What happened to FUN?
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Six Items or less
Could you imagine only having six items of clothing in your wardrobe? Think about it.
I keep a tall kitchen garbage can in the attic to hold all the clothes I decide I no longer want to wear. Every three months a local charity calls and picks up my cast-offs. I can easily fill three 30 gallon trash bags every three months. And I don't even shop all that much!!!
There is a movement to wear only six items of clothing during one month. The point, I guess, is to prove that Westerners own too many clothes - and waste too much of the world's resources on fashion.
For more info, check out the movement's blog.
I keep a tall kitchen garbage can in the attic to hold all the clothes I decide I no longer want to wear. Every three months a local charity calls and picks up my cast-offs. I can easily fill three 30 gallon trash bags every three months. And I don't even shop all that much!!!
There is a movement to wear only six items of clothing during one month. The point, I guess, is to prove that Westerners own too many clothes - and waste too much of the world's resources on fashion.
For more info, check out the movement's blog.
Monday, August 30, 2010
I'm BACK!
Our summer intern at work made a Facebook page for our workplace so I spent the summer updating our work blog and the new spiffy Facebook page. Ergo, I had little or no time to blog here. Life is sometimes very unfair.
But our wonderful summer intern has returned to school. I don't a zillion programs to blog about and update so I am here to tell you my innermost thoughts.
I have decided that I am a discontent person. I complain when the summer is soooo busy I can't breathe or think, what with people coming and going and asking for book suggestions and needing Summer Reading Club prizes. But, now that it is quiet at my workplace, I am bored. Grrrrr! There is no pleasing me.
My other innermost thought is this. I'd like to read the entire Hunger Games trilogy again for the very first time - one right after the other. I am jealous of new readers who have the luxury of sitting down with all three books and racing through them without stopping. No waiting for months and months for the next book to come out. Lucky stiffs.
Enough innermost thoughts.
But our wonderful summer intern has returned to school. I don't a zillion programs to blog about and update so I am here to tell you my innermost thoughts.
I have decided that I am a discontent person. I complain when the summer is soooo busy I can't breathe or think, what with people coming and going and asking for book suggestions and needing Summer Reading Club prizes. But, now that it is quiet at my workplace, I am bored. Grrrrr! There is no pleasing me.
My other innermost thought is this. I'd like to read the entire Hunger Games trilogy again for the very first time - one right after the other. I am jealous of new readers who have the luxury of sitting down with all three books and racing through them without stopping. No waiting for months and months for the next book to come out. Lucky stiffs.
Enough innermost thoughts.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Time
A former teen volunteer friended me on Facebook this week. She stopped by the library and found a note she and another teen volunteer left for me almost exactly nine years ago.
They teased me about the note and asked me every summer - for a few years - if I had found it. I never did. I didn't have time to check under every shelf. I did look when I thought of it but nine years is a long time.
Margaret took pictures of the note and, until I get a chance to check tomorrow morning, for all I know she may have spirited the note away. She shared the note and its contents with her partner in crime, Carmen. Carmen shared the contents of that note on her livejournal. http://dimethirwen.livejournal.com/789282.html If Carmen adds something before you get a chance to read the note, look for the post titled "Traveling back in time".
Now I know why I have stayed at this job for almost 22 years. Thanks, Margaret and Carmen. Thank you so much.
They teased me about the note and asked me every summer - for a few years - if I had found it. I never did. I didn't have time to check under every shelf. I did look when I thought of it but nine years is a long time.
Margaret took pictures of the note and, until I get a chance to check tomorrow morning, for all I know she may have spirited the note away. She shared the note and its contents with her partner in crime, Carmen. Carmen shared the contents of that note on her livejournal. http://dimethirwen.livejournal.com/789282.html If Carmen adds something before you get a chance to read the note, look for the post titled "Traveling back in time".
Now I know why I have stayed at this job for almost 22 years. Thanks, Margaret and Carmen. Thank you so much.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Boks, books, books
I just finished reading Shannon Hale's The Actor and the Housewife, which turned out to be quite a surprise. I know Hale's work with teen novels, fantasies - some based on fairy tales but all set in another place and time. The Actor and the Housewife is firmly set in this decade and centers around a Mormon mom of four and her very unlikely friendship with a very handsome, very desirable, very British, very famous actor.
I am not a romance reader. I do NOT go in for clandestine affairs so I put off reading this book for a whole year. This book - it made me laugh out loud very very quickly and it made me cry, as well. The ending was bittersweet because I like these characters a lot. And I resented losing each and every one of them, especially since one of them was lost irrevocably. Enough. Read the book. I think it would make a great movie.
I am not a romance reader. I do NOT go in for clandestine affairs so I put off reading this book for a whole year. This book - it made me laugh out loud very very quickly and it made me cry, as well. The ending was bittersweet because I like these characters a lot. And I resented losing each and every one of them, especially since one of them was lost irrevocably. Enough. Read the book. I think it would make a great movie.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Book trailers
I got my haircut today. (My sister is an EXCELLENT hair cutter person. Call her.) And I was telling her all about the amazing Guys Read book trailer (see other blog or ... no wait, click here). And before I got home she called to tell me about Libba Bray's book trailer for Going Bovine, which came out in Sept. and is available at the Parkland Community Library and book stores everywhere. So I watched it. You can, too! Click here.
I LOVE book trailers. (Could someone young teach me to put little hearts in place of the word "love"? Could someone young-ish teach me how to ramp up this blog? I don't have the time to figure these things out by like going online and asking help pages because I am not young anymore. Time is more precious to me, now -sniff.)
I have a friend, Kim Chatel, who actually MAKES book trailers (Warning - not all these trailers are suitable for children) for Guardian Angel Publishing. Kim also writes books - not all of which are suitable for children, either. But they are all GOOD.
Here are other book trailers I have found and loved:
Hand Wash Cold by Karen Maezen Miller
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick
Alas, I wanted to add Jarrett Krosoczka's very funny Vimeo about how he developed the idea for his Lunch Lady series (also available at the Parkland Community Library and book stores, etc.) But I was only able to find this snippet starring Tomie DePaola. Well, there are other snippets, too. Look in the sidebar to watch them.
Get to know your favorite authors. Look for book trailers and then...bother your librarian to use his (or her) continually diminishing budget to buy the books you love! If you are lucky she (or he) will already have those books on the shelves. Or go to book stores - especially the small cozy ones like the Moravian Book Shop (which is not all that small really) and buy the books there.
Libraries RULE!! Love your librarian!! GO BOOKS! (and book trailers!)
I LOVE book trailers. (Could someone young teach me to put little hearts in place of the word "love"? Could someone young-ish teach me how to ramp up this blog? I don't have the time to figure these things out by like going online and asking help pages because I am not young anymore. Time is more precious to me, now -sniff.)
I have a friend, Kim Chatel, who actually MAKES book trailers (Warning - not all these trailers are suitable for children) for Guardian Angel Publishing. Kim also writes books - not all of which are suitable for children, either. But they are all GOOD.
Here are other book trailers I have found and loved:
Hand Wash Cold by Karen Maezen Miller
The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
The Last Stand by Nathaniel Philbrick
Alas, I wanted to add Jarrett Krosoczka's very funny Vimeo about how he developed the idea for his Lunch Lady series (also available at the Parkland Community Library and book stores, etc.) But I was only able to find this snippet starring Tomie DePaola. Well, there are other snippets, too. Look in the sidebar to watch them.
Get to know your favorite authors. Look for book trailers and then...bother your librarian to use his (or her) continually diminishing budget to buy the books you love! If you are lucky she (or he) will already have those books on the shelves. Or go to book stores - especially the small cozy ones like the Moravian Book Shop (which is not all that small really) and buy the books there.
Libraries RULE!! Love your librarian!! GO BOOKS! (and book trailers!)
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