this is pretty damn cool (and funny): YaGoohoo!gle

The Book Quiz (found this via Carol and Kat)

Here’s what the book quiz says I am: You’re The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe! by C.S. Lewis You were just looking for some decent clothes when everything changed quite dramatically. For the better or for the worse, it is still hard to tell. Now it seems like winter will never end and you feel cursed. Soon there will be an epic struggle … Read More The Book Quiz (found this via Carol and Kat)

poem for 4.15.05: Brooklyn AnchorageLisa Jarnot

Our friend Darron sent Allen a photo of one of the 1950s American Flyer engines he’s restoring. Isn’t it gorgeous? He created his own font and decals using CAD.

Here are some interesting notes regarding an upcoming “film” (I wonder why it’s called a film instead of a documentary?) on Sylvia Plath (also there is information at the bottom of the column about an exhibit of Plath/Hughes papers starting in September): The latest chapter on Plath: Trachtman’s hourlong tribute to the Wellesley-reared, Smith College-educated Plath successfully navigates some of the trickier shoals of … Read More

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water is a novel I won’t soon forget. Set in Seattle and Montana, it tells the tale of three Native American women—Rayona, Christine and Ida—each in her own voice. They are related, a family, and their worlds intersect and tear apart, span out and braid back together, but it is not until the ending that the reader fully understands … Read More

nanny mania

Speaking of addiction, my household is addicted to the nanny shows–Super Nanny and the lesser, Nanny 911. We love Super Nanny especially because of Jo, or “Jo Jo” as she is often called, the star of the show. She is the most excellent nanny ever (indeed, she is the super nanny!). She is smart, empathetic, strong and helpful. Each week we watch as she … Read More nanny mania

Happy Birthday to Eudora Welty, born on this day in 1909. One of my aunties lived in Jackson, MS–which is where Welty grew up–but I never got to visit her there. My older sister did, though. Took the plane from Montreal to Mississippi by herself when she was seven (different times then!). Her favorite story was about how when my aunt took her to … Read More

The wonderful Joseph Young has some great new flashes posted on his blog. Read ’em and weep: Getting Away & A Wall

I am addicted to news. It’s not good. I’m trying to break the habit but I fear being uniformed or, worse, misinformed. Still, in an effort to not fill my head with crap and fear there are several news stories that I am avoiding (i.e., not clicking on) and they are: Anything to do with Michael Jackson Anything to do with Britney Spears and … Read More

This–No Refuge Is an Island–is precisely what has worried me over Arctic drilling–not just that one place (though that is troubling, indeed) but the whole of the protected lands. In the controversy over whether petroleum development in the Arctic Refuge is worth the threat to habitat and wilderness, a crucial broader issue has been lost: how will drilling and development affect the 95 million-acre … Read More

Lan Samantha Chang has been chosen to lead the Iowa Writers’ Workshop: Chang, 40, a workshop graduate and former faculty member, was chosen from four finalists to succeed Frank Conroy, who led the prestigious program for 18 years before his death last week from cancer. “I’m just so very happy to be coming back to Iowa City,” Chang said Monday from her office as … Read More