Kimberly Hirsh

Tomorrow is March 15, which on the Roman calendar was known as the Ides of March. Now, the Ides are only on the 15th in March, May, July and October. The rest of the year, they are on the 13th. But in March, they are the 15, and it was on March 15, 44 B. C. (709 AUC, for those of you using the Roman calendar) that Gaius Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times at the foot of the statue of Pompey, his rival in the Civil War.

William Shakespeare was a Latin teacher before he was an actor or playwright, and as such he was no doubt well-educated in Roman history. So he had a lot of knowledge to draw on when he wrote his play, Julius Caesar. Today, in honor/mourning of the death of a man who was at least very smart, if not very nice, I give you selections from Shakespeare’s play.

Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; * * Seeing that death, a necessary end,

Will come when it will come.

• Act II, Scene 2.

  I could be well mov’d if I were as you; If I could pray to move, prayers would move me; But I am constant as the northern star, * * Of whose true-fix’d and resting quality There is no fellow in the firmament. The skies are painted with unnumber’d sparks, They are all fire and every one doth shine, * * But there’s but one in all doth hold his place: So, in the world; ’tis furnish’d well with men, And men are flesh and blood, and apprehensive; Yet in the number I do know but one * * That unassailable holds on his rank, Unshak’d of motion: and that I am he, Let me a little show it, even in this, That I was constant Cimber should be banish’d, * *

And constant do remain to keep him so.

• Act III, Scene 1

If you haven’t been watching it, you should check out the LiveJournal community . This is a community for writers of urban fantasy/horror. Recently they’ve focused their discussion on the topic of why they write about the creatures they do. I’ve really enjoyed reading their responses.

Last week I tried to have a kick a day.  I’m going to go for the same thing this week.  We’ll see how it works out.

1. On Sunday, I got out of rehearsal an hour early.
2. On Monday, I did really well in dance class and my parents brought me hushpuppies.
3. On Tuesday, I had no meetings.
4. On Wednesday, we only had students for half a day. And when you’re used to a 90 minute class, 55 minutes flies by.
5. On Thursday, I gave a test in two of my classes, which is always nice because it makes for a low-energy day.
6. On Friday, I saw The Princess Bride on the big screen at the Carolina Theatre.  And found out they will have Space Balls, The Secret of NIMH, and Terminator showing in the near future.  Also a friend was working the concessions stand.
7. Yesterday, I spent $4 and got a whole pizza for it, because Will’s dad gave him a gift card and we ordered 3 pizzas and I only had to pay the difference on the order between the gift card amount and the total.

That is all.

1. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, Karen Kingston
   2. Craft, Inc., Meg Mateo Ilasco
   3. Indigara, Tanith Lee
   4. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
   5. Jessie’s Mountain, Kerry Madden
   6. Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson and Glenn Yeffeth, ed.
   7. Valiant, Holly Black [Audio CD] 

Seven good things this week:

1. At last week’s music rehearsal for my current production, I was ready to put down my score and sing from memory.  This meant I was ahead of the game, as we didn’t have to be able to do that until just today.

2. I got to rehearse my half a line on Monday night.

3. On Tuesday, I relaxed in the afternoon.

4. On Wednesday, I had a very productive meeting with some colleagues from across the whole school system.

5. Also on Wednesday at a curriculum fair, I talked to several potential new students and their parents, as well as meeting some parents of former/current students.  What was especially nice was being able to talk to a parent of a student who struggled in classes with me last year who is doing very well with the other Latin teacher this year.  It was nice to be able to tell her how genuinely pleased I am that he’s doing so well.

6. On Friday I had some amazingly delicious vegetarian pot pie.

7. Last night I went to the theatre and it was phenomenal. 

I could actually list more: standing up for myself in a situation I wouldn’t have a year ago, the fact that my roommate and his colleagues had an article published which meant they celebrated which meant he brought home cake…  Lots more.  Yay for good weeks, especially when it looked like it was going to be a stressful week.

My first published book review is up at this month's The Edge of the Forest.

US Airways and Reading Is Fundamental Put Children’s Books on Planes; Launch “Read with Kids Challenge.”

TEMPE, Ariz., — Feb. 29, 2008—US Airways (LCC) has joined with Reading Is Fundamental (RIF) to launch a new early childhood literacy campaign, “Fly with US. Read with Kids,” which features a free children’s book for passengers traveling domestically during March, the online “Read with Kids Challenge,” and support of RIF programs serving young children across the nation.

During the month of March, US Airways, the official airline of RIF, will distribute copies of best-selling author/illustrator Lucy’s Cousins’ children’s book Come Fly with Maisy to passengers on domestic, mainline flights to take and share with a child. The organizations’ “Read with Kids Challenge” encourages Americans to read with young children during March, April, and May in an effort to log one million minutes reading. All entrants who log their time will qualify for a grand prize drawing of a family vacation to Walt Disney World(R) Resort in Orlando as well as other prizes. Participants can enter their time online at RIF.org.

“Reading, much like travel, is an adventure and a way to explore new worlds,” said Doug Parker, US Airways Chairman and CEO. “By teaming up with RIF on this first-of-its kind campaign, US Airways is helping foster literacy skills and a lifelong love of reading in children throughout the country – a key foundation for future academic and economic success.”

US Airways’ new campaign with RIF, the nation’s oldest and largest children and families’ literacy nonprofit organization, also includes donating 80,000 books to 25,000 children in RIF programs. US Airways' 3,300-member employee volunteer corps, the Do Crew, will participate in RIF book distributions and reading rallies in communities where the airline has large employee concentrations: Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; Las Vegas; New York City; Philadelphia; Phoenix; Pittsburgh; Washington, D.C.; and Winston-Salem, N.C.

“Reading and interacting with children is fun and valuable whether at 30,000 feet or at ground level,” said Carol H. Rasco, president and CEO of RIF. “Thanks to US Airways, RIF can provide more books to children and their families and promote the value of adults reading with young children. Research has shown that reading to young children helps them build vocabulary, develop skills for reading, and better prepare for success in school.” qubo, a TV and online entertainment service for children that champions literacy, has agreed to help promote the Read with Kids Challenge. qubo is currently broadcast on NBC Saturday mornings, ION TV network Friday afternoons and Telemundo weekend mornings and airs as a 24/7 digital broadcast channel and website.

About RIF Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), founded in 1966, is the nation’s oldest and largest children and families’ literacy nonprofit organization. RIF’s programs work to improve literacy by providing children with free new books, promoting reading for fun, and involving caring adults—all proven to support academic achievement. Because research has shown the importance of early childhood language development, RIF’s highest priority is reaching underserved children from birth to age 8. In 2007, RIF distributed 16 million books to 4.6 million children at nearly 20,000 locations, including schools, clinics, Head Start centers, and other sites throughout the U.S. RIF’s website offers educators, parents, and children advice and activities that support literacy. Visit www.RIF.org

About US Airways US Airways is the fifth largest domestic airline employing more than 36,000 aviation professionals worldwide. US Airways, US Airways Shuttle and US Airways Express operate approximately 3,800 flights per day and serve more than 230 communities in the U.S., Canada, Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America. US Airways is a member of the Star Alliance network, which offers our customers 17,000 daily flights to 897 destinations in 160 countries worldwide. This press release and additional information on US Airways can be found at www.usairways.com (LCCG)

FROM CAROL H. RASCO, President and CEO of Reading Is Fundamental

Please ACT NOW capwiz.com/rif/go/de… and help RIF build support for our funding by sending an e-mail to your members of Congress asking them to sign the RIF Dear Colleague letter.

Since we first shared the disappointing news of President Bush’s proposed elimination of funding for RIF in his fiscal year 2009 budget less than two weeks ago, more than 30,000 messages have been sent to Congress urging legislators to reinstate RIF’s funding.

This initial outpouring of support has prompted RIF’s congressional champions to capitalize on the momentum by circulating in Congress a Dear Colleague letter on behalf of RIF. The Dear Colleague letter asks members of Congress to sign-on in support of RIF’s funding. This is an important next step in the campaign to protect RIF’s FY09 funding.

We are asking Congress to appropriate $26 million to fund RIF’s book distribution program for some 4.6 million underserved children and families in fiscal year 2009. The funding is critical to support our reading motivational programs at nearly 20,000 locations nationwide.

We hope you will share this message with six or more friends who will also contact their members of Congress. Thank you in advance for your support!

I would be a mermaid fair;
I would sing to myself the whole of the day;
With a comb of pearl I would comb my hair;
And still as I comb’d I would sing and say,
Who is it loves me? who loves not me?

-Alfred Lord Tennyson

To read the whole poem, go here.

The round up is at Writing and Ruminating. 

I am: Robert A. Heinlein Beginning with technological action stories and progressing to epics with religious overtones, this take-no-prisoners writer racked up some huge sales numbers.

This comes as no surprise.

 National Women’s History Month starts on Saturday; this week’s Booking Through Thursday question asks who your favorite female lead character is; Shannon Hale is having a discussion about being tough and feminine at the same time at her blog.

I have a response that will tie all of these together.  Unfortunately, I’ve been awake for 14 hours on less than 6 hours of sleep, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

From Colleen at Chasing Ray:

Just to update you on the idea that several of us have been bouncing around for a web site recommending books to teenage boys. We are working on the design and putting together a big list of daily posters. But first the name:

Guys Lit Wire!!

All credit for that one goes to Sarah (who will likely also want to mention some help from Tanita). I was banging my head hard against the wall on this and Sarah came through big time. So kudos to her limitless creativity which will be big time on display on the site. Wait until you see the header she is working on for the main page - it is some kind of awesome.

We are planning to go live by June 1st and update every Monday - Friday with a different daily poster. We hope to have 21 folks on board dedicated to posting at least once a month. This way we get tons of new content from lots of different points of view, which is what I really wanted. We will likely run multiple daily posts as the site evolves but readers will be able to count for sure on at least one new post every weekday and that is what we will build a lot of the site’s readership on.

There will be book recommendations, author interviews, literary commentary, a rant or two (I’m sure) and lots of other good stuff. The goal is to cover a ton of different types of books from across the literary spectrum so we can become a good resource to actual teenagers as well as anyone seeking to find books for teen boys. (And if the girls want to visit we are happy to have them, but boys are our target audience.)

Right now everything is moving forward quite nicely but we do still need some folks to commit to posting. If any of you would like to participate in Guys Lit Wire (or recommend someone) then please let me know. We are especially looking for guys so we can keep our group balanced (and because guys know a thing or two about what guys like to read… :) Please send me an email if you can help. (colleenatchasingraydotcom)

Just making a list for myself based on the list published by LOCUS.

Faerie Wars, Herbie Brennan Un Lun Dun, China Mieville

Looking for vintage book covers?  Go to Book Scans! "The goal of the Bookscans Project is to provide a visual catalog of ALL vintage American paperbacks."

So much fun!

I’m "reading" Holly Black’s Valiant right now on CD on my commute.  I almost stopped because I feel like the reader tries a little too hard to distinguish character voices, making them so different as to be unsuited to the characters.  But I’m going to keep going, because I’m enjoying it anyway.

Sometimes, a character in a book says something that feels like it could have come out of your own mouth.  At least, it happens to me every once in a while.  As I don’t have the book itself here I’m paraphrasing, but this one sounded just like me, to myself anyway.

Sketchy Dave is scolding Lolli for just up and telling Val all about herself.

Lolli says, "I tell everybody everything.  People only believe what they can handle.  It’s how I know who I can trust."

I’m sure I’ve gotten it horribly wrong, but the gist is there.  And it is absolutely who I am.  There are things I hold back, but they are my very private and personal things.  Most things, I just come out and say, and one of the reasons I do that is because people’s reactions are a quick way to gauge who is a good fit for you as a friend.  You can’t pretend to be someone you’re not and then get mad if people find out who you really are and don’t like you, not reasonably.  But if you’re open from the first, they know and you know whether or not you’ll really get along.

Here on Sunday night I revive my Weekend Wonderings. (I meant to do this yesterday morning but I was away from my computer.)

Over at Tea Cozy, Liz B. provides this quote from Ken Tucker’s review of the Beowulf DVD:

“Zemeckis says in a making-of that this film has ’nothing to do with the Beowulf you were forced to read in junior high - it’s all about eating, drinking, killing, and fornicating.’ To which I can only respond, Oh, you poor, deluded baby boomer: Bob, do you think young people in 2008 have an Old English epic poem on the syllabus? American literacy is lucky if junior high schoolers get a stray Hemingway short story into their diet of crappy young-adult novels."

This led me to a couple questions, which I shall catalogue for you now.

1. Where do the uninitiated get their ideas about what kids are reading, in or out of school? It’s true that I haven’t been in middle school for about 14 years, but when I was, we read A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and I’m fairly certain the curriculum hasn’t changed much. We read Beowulf in high school - not in its entirety, but in excerpts in World Literature. I think students who had British Literature in 12th Grade (instead of AP Literature, which is what I had) might have read it more. I know that my current students are still reading classics - Hamlet in 12th Grade, and others. (The North Carolina English Language Arts Curriculum Resources suggest texts like Romeo and Juliet, The Canterbury Tales, and the Scottish play.)

2. What is the relationship between a child’s desire to read and the amount of freedom she has to choose her reading material? In my 7th Grade year, our Language Arts teacher allowed us to read anything we wanted, so long as we were reading and then writing about our reading. Thus, my 7th Grade literature consisted of Piers Anthony, Michael Crichton, and Tanith Lee. If students are fed a steady diet of books that, while classic and worth reading, are old and seem irrelevant to them, is it any wonder that they don’t want to read more? I think a more sensible approach would be to alternate required texts with choice - but still requiring students to provide responses to their reading. I am glad to have read Hard Times, but I wouldn’t want to read Dickens exclusively.

Answers, anyone?

 All other things (like price and storage space) being equal, given a choice in a perfect world, would you rather have paperbacks in your library? Or hardcovers? And why?

This is a tough question, as I love both.  Paperbacks are eminently portable, but hardcovers are so much sturdier.  Paperbacks sometimes have a greater sense of history, but hardcovers smell better.  In a perfect world, I’d have each for its appropriate purpose.  Fancy editions (Complete Classic-Author, for example) would be hardcover.  Longer books would be hardcover.  But quick reads would be paperback.  Guilty pleasures, also paperback.  Plays, paperback.  But I certainly wouldn’t want ALL my books to be paperback.

What about you?

LiveJournal is now blocked at work. While I wasn’t generally using it, it is my preferred feed aggregator and I would every once in a while check it at lunch, or on those days when I was working well past 3 but needed a break. But since it’s not working there anymore, I’ve been switching over to JacketFlap for at-work reading only. I’m also setting up post-by-email, just in case I find something awesome on JacketFlap and can’t wait until I get home to post about it. That’s what this post is testing.

Tomorrow: Booking Through Thursday.

Becker Drane has the best job in the world: he is a Fixer in The Seems, a behind-the-scenes society where all the things that happen in The World are orchestrated.  He jumps full-force into his first mission: fixing the glitch in sleep.  No one in The World can get any sleep, and it has kept several important things from happening.  If Becker can’t fix it, the Chain of Events will disassemble and life as we know it will be destroyed.

 The greatest strength of The Seems is the complex world its authors have created.  Everything in life is carefully orchestrated by the workers of The Seems, and Hulme and Wexler seem to have thought of everything.  If you were to find something they hadn’t, the world is so well-developed they could come up with an answer in a mere matter of seconds.  Becker is a relatable character, with ordinary problems in spite of his extraordinary job.  His supporting cast is charming or scary, as is appropriate.

I would recommend The Seems primarily to younger readers.  It is suggested for readers ages 10 and up, but I think readers as young as 6 or 7 would enjoy it.  Anyone who has the attention span to finish a novel is old enough to enjoy The Seems.  Older readers may find it a bit immature, but can still enjoy it as a quick, light read.

Book: The Seems: The Glitch in Sleep [affiliate link]
Author: John Hulme and Michael Wexler
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Original Publication Date: September 18, 2007
Pages: 288
Age Range: Middle Grade
Source of Book: Advance Reading Copy Requested From Publisher

1. I officially have the patience for novels again.  Yay!
2. I got to go to Kerry Madden's release party for Jessie's Mountain.  It was awesome to meet Kerry.  It was ironic that I had to go all the way to California to find a vanilla moonpie to bring back to North Carolina for my boyfriend.
3. I kind of want to do a general survey of sci fi, i. e., reading old classics and such.  Then I want to take notes on the women in these stories.
4. I've decided my goal for books read this year is 48.  Last year I read 35, almost 3 a month.  So 4 a month should be doable.
5. In that case, I need to finish 2 books in the next 2 weeks in order to catch up.
6. I've got The Lightning Thief waiting for me at the library.  Maybe I'll pick it up tomorrow.
7. I also am going to get cracking on my TBR pile full of ARCs/not A but just RCs.

1. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, Karen Kingston
2. Craft, Inc., Meg Mateo Ilasco
3. Indigara, Tanith Lee
4. The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot
5. Jessie's Mountain, Kerry Madden
6. Finding Serenity, Jane Espenson and Glenn Yeffeth, ed.

 I’m coming to LA for a few days this weekend and officially have no plans.  Any kidlitters in the area want to get together?  I’m staying at the Orchid Suites, near Hollywood & Highland.  Let me know.

To Check Out:
Valiant, Holly Black
Ironside, Holly Black
The Ferryman, Christopher Golden
Sold, Patricia McCormick
The Book Thief, Marcus Zusak
How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff

Borrowed from Mom:
The Amulet of Samarkand, Jonathan Stroud

It's that time of the week again, when jules and eisha ask us to list "Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week — whether book-related or not — that happened to you."

Here are mine!

1.  I seem to have really used parental support to modify one student's behavior and improve another student's academic achievement.  Parents can be such helpful people.

2. I went to the library and picked up two fiction books there.  I haven't finished a novel in 2008 yet.

3. I had my first check up in a long, long time, and my Nurse Practicioner and I came up with some strategies to get rid of the perpetual fatigue I seem to experience.

4. Thanks to The Zone Diet (which is not so much a "diet" as a general method of eating), I have greatly simplified my eating habits, which I hope will result in me eating much better.

5. I attended a very productive rehearsal for my current show, Yeomen of the Guard.

6. I beat Guitar Hero 3 on Medium.

7. I was inspired by Tanith Lee's novel Indigara to start writing my own fiction again. 

What about you?  What Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things happened to you this week?

1. Clear Your Clutter with Feng Shui, Karen Kingston
2. Craft, Inc., Meg Mateo Ilasco