Optical Illusions and the Ames Room

A few weeks ago, I watched the Temple Grandin HBO movie with Lucia, my daughter. Temple Grandin grew up with high-functioning autism, and is known for her work with the livestock industry and autism awareness.

Lucia and I had already watched Temple Grandin's TED talk plus a few interviews. I'd already seen the film without her, and knew the few scenes where I wanted her to avert her eyes. I wasn't sure what Lucia would take away from the film, but I wasn't surprised that the film fanned her interest in optical illusions.

After we watched Temple Grandin, Lucia tried to make an Ames room model (named after ophthalmologist Adelbert Ames), in which two figures that are the same size look different when viewed through a peep-hole. All afternoon and into the evening, she bustled about with cardboard, paper, scissors, and tape-- lots and lots of tape. She got frustrated at several points, and fumed that Grandin had gotten it right so easily. I reminded her of how often Grandin's temper flared, and said, "We can get some optical illusion books out of the library." One of her favorite books was Walter Wick's Optical Tricks.

Yesterday, Bede printed out a template to make the Ames room, and Lucia noted that she needed a much larger layout for her satisfaction. Here are her notes from her composition book:

I Rethink Valentine's Day

"Heart-shaped tofu! Are you kidding?"

The first year I lived in Seattle was my "gap year" between college and graduate school. I was a full-time volunteer at a daycare center for homeless children, and I lived in a group house in which I was the only one who didn't have a Significant Other. When Valentine's Day came, I decided not to let the smoochiness bother me. However, I exclaimed to a long-distance friend of mine, "Can you believe that Housemate Charlie made heart shaped toast for Housemate Beth?"

My friend laughed and said, "I have to confess, Chris made me heart-shaped tofu."

It was then that I realized I needed to get over my sneering contempt for Valentine's Day smoochiness and reinvent it for myself. The week of Valentine's Day became a time to write letters of appreciation to people and to do something thoughtful and materialistically indulgent for myself. One year, I bought myself an Italian fountain pen. Another year, I bought myself a little red flashlight. I benefited from my good taste in gifts.

When Bede and I got together, we decided we wanted the Valentine's Day Experience. I remember the restaurant where we had dinner, but I don't recall what we ate-- except that when the waiter told us about the heart-shaped chocolate torte, Bede and I said, "Yes, THAT." After dinner, Bede paid the bill and led me out through the large open window.

February 14 must have been warm that year.

As this Valentine's Day rolls around, I've started writing my letters again. I've got presents for Bede and Lucia, because I like to give and make presents. Since Lucia doesn't read my blog, you can peek here to see what I got her by special request. I'm pleased that some of the dolls in my shop are going to be gifts for other people, too.

I've even become resigned to the sugar-overload that's going to happen on Tuesday in my daughter's class. Before every class party, I caution her, "Don't drink the juice-boxes,"* and fill her lunch with fresh vegetables. Which reminds me-- how factual do you think it is that she is the only one to go to school with a healthful lunch every day? She says all the other kids get candy and chips in their lunches. Is she pulling my leg?** Bede and I work to balance Lucia's need to eat food that's good for her with the desirability to be part of social events.

We have no plans for heart-shaped tortes or anything sugary that night. Valentine's Day is a choir day, and Business As Usual. However, I might make heart-shaped tofu. Or steak.

*Sugar + water= what's the point?


**Remind me to tell you someday of Lucia's tall tale about how all the other children brought Barbie Dolls to a Waldorf kindergarten. I had a hard time keeping a straight face.

Steamcon III

This past weekend, the House of Glee attended Steamcon III, an annual steampunk convention. This year's theme was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. We were all dressed nicely, though Lucia was the only one who had a proper alt-Victorian ensemble. Then again, as Steampunk empress Diana Vick says, "Steampunk needs historical accuracy like a dirigible needs a goldfish."

Alisa's Totally Random Blog has a nice overview of Steamcon III, plus many great photos. Favorite costumes of mine included a friend's deep-sea diver costume for the bathing suit competition, the lady with the ship on her head, and the humorous deep-voiced fish. Lucia made a couple of friends, one of whom you can see here. She was enchanted with a lady who went by the name of Princess Eugenie, and they had a spirited talk about which of Princess Eugenie's castles would be the best place for the next ball.

One of the highlights of Steamcon III was the Amphitrite Society Afternoon Tea, during which the bathing suit competition took place, followed by the gorgeous cello playing and singing of Unwoman, a.k.a. Erica Mulkey. Visit her site, listen to her music, feel the chills.

One of my few purchases of Steamcon (and don't think I wasn't tempted by many beautiful, wonderful creations!) was Unwoman's album Casualties. Lucia lucked out with a portrait by silhouette artist Kerry Cook:


Silhouette by Kerry Cook

We have plans to attend Steamcon IV, which will take place closer to Halloween. Its theme is Victorian Monsters. I joked that I planned to go as a Morlock, but in actuality, I'm drawn more toward aviator chic. It would be fun to dress as Deryn Sharp from Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy, and make a badge ribbon that says, "Barking Spiders!" (There's even a Leviathan contest going on to win Deryn's flying cap and goggles, which you can enter here.) Then again, sometimes I just want to wear silk bustled skirts. In lieu of fabulous dressmaking skills, I am keeping my eyes open for inspiration in thrift shops.

Folk and Fairy Tale sets/ Life Update

A post I wrote for the NaturalKids Team blog, which you may find here, highlights some folk and fairy tale-themed creations my fellow artisans have in their shops. There should be more next month, as the team is working on a "fairy tale challenge" right now. I'm kicking around the idea of making the sun, the moon, and the stars in personified form as part of a Seven Ravens set. I suspect many of our offerings will come from retellings by Grimm and Perrault, and I would like to break from choosing Western European stories without being a culture vulture.

***

Speaking of fairy tale stories, summer is almost over, I have performances coming up next week, and I need to polish my new stories. I've enjoyed being at home out in the world with my daughter this summer. We can actually do things together now. My aunt jokes that Lucia was in "boot camp," because Lucia walked 4-5 miles and read two books every week day during the summer.

I'm training Lucia to do stair-climbing for The Big Climb next March, and yesterday, she stair-climbed 293 steps four times. That's 1, 172 steps. Meanwhile, I'm training to run my first 5k this autumn for Run Scared, while Lucia and her daddy walk the 4k portion (almost 2.5 miles).

Out in the world, I try to be low-key about my daughter's progression, but here on this blog, let me be braggy for a moment:

GO, LUCIA, GO!

(Pretend there's a scrolling marquee tag for that.)

Neon Fairies with Hair I Wish I Had

In 2007, when Lucia was 4.5 years old, she received her Little One named Snowdrop from the Little One Meadow. The Little Ones were not dolls, the kindergarteners informed their parents.

I enjoyed hearing stories about what the Little Ones did in Lucia's Waldorf kindergarten, as well as their antics in the Little One Meadow. The first time Snowdrop needed a hair and dress refurbishment, I told Lucia's teacher with a straight face that Snowdrop had traveled to the Little One Meadow to meet up with Dahlia, the Little One's resident hair-stylist and makeover artist. Once Snowdrop came back with black hair, not brown, because that was the only wool roving I had Dahlia used walnut-juice as a temporary hair-rinse.

Dahlia never had access to these hair colors:


I recently put these Neon Fairies (or angels, if you like) in the shop, and gave their hair hues names inspired by those found on nail-polishes and hair dyes. From left to right, they are: Over-the-Brink Pink, Luna Moth Lime, Anime Blue, and Manic Mauve.

There's part of me that wanted to dye my hair bright blue or purple, but never wanted to do what it would take to get those vivid colors. Now, I content myself with giving the dolls the hair that I admire.

Pippi Longstocking Fans

Over the past couple of weeks, I've read aloud Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking books to Lucia. We'd finished Ronia, the Robber's Daughter previously, and Lucia really enjoyed that book, so I brought out Pippi to see how the humor would work with her. (Lucia herself is reading beginning readers series.) Often, things that are funny have to be explained to her why they are funny, but Lucia has been laughing outright over Pippi's utterances and actions.

I realized recently that Pippi is a child's superhero. She has amazing strength, and she uses it for good to defy those who would squelch children, i.e. bullies, robbers, domineering grownups. Her table manners are deplorable, but she is generous and sensitive to those in need. She is "rich as a troll" with her suitcase of gold coins, but she herself wears rags and lives in a ramshackle house called Villa Villekulla, and uses her wealth to buy presents for others.

Lucia admires Pippi greatly, and wants to be like her. We've had to talk about some caveats besides the obvious (don't eat mushrooms in the forest, drink coffee before you've stopped growing, or tell tall tales about how people live in other countries). We've also had age-appropriate talks about post-colonialism and perceptions of people outside one's own culture as "other."

In the meantime, Lucia has made paper dolls and dioramas inspired by the Pippi books. Here are her latest creations:


Villa Villekulla with Pippi (Mr. Nilsson the monkey is on her shoulder), Tommy, Annika, and the horse


Tommy, Annika, Pippi

Last night, we learned of the the existence of Astrid Lindgren's World. Who's up for a trip to Vimmerby, Sweden?

Happy Birthday, Eight Year Old Girl

Today, Lucia is eight years old. We had her immediate family + godparents celebration on Sunday (i.e. Mother's Day) because today is a choir day rehearsal. Here, Lucia blows out the candles on a gluten-free chocolate cake with coconut buttercream frosting (both recipes from the Gluten Free on a Shoestring cookbook):



It feels as if the years are speeding up.

Update in the early 2011

Yesterday was Bede's and my 10th wedding anniversary, but Bede was not in town to celebrate it. Last Friday, he flew to Canada after we learned that his mom was in the hospital after experiencing a heart attack. The prognosis changes by the day, but the fact is that she's eighty years old and has struggled with emphysema for years. It is hard.

Lucia is enjoying her new school. The teacher is great. The teacher emails me every day to tell me how Lucia is doing (and she does not have much of a break at all), and if there are questions or concerns, we can talk about strategies. It is fortunate that this particular class is small, mellow, and kind. Homework is something new, and although Lucia did not go to an academic kindergarten, she is doing well with her homework. It's frustrating to her that she does not yet read with ease, but her progress thus far has given me the confidence to assure her that one day reading will be pleasurable. I help her prepare for spelling tests, but she does not need my help for math. How about that! Bede and I incorporated math in conversations in the hopes that Lucia would have a positive attitude toward it. I am requesting a gold star for each of the members of The House of Glee.

I lookforward to Bede's return. I miss him. We'll celebrate 10 years of marriage. I hope we get to share 55 more years at least. Here is a photo of the House of Glee as we are now. Bede is almost 41 and still ruefully handsome. Lucia's toes are alive and wiggly. Here I am, too, 10 years older than when I got married, but finally back to my pre-pregnancy weight. The difference is that 10 years ago, I would have never worn 3 inch stiletto heels. Sometimes it is fun to wear foolish shoes.

Change

This is the last week of my daughter's time at her local Waldorf school. We spent much of November scrambling to find a school that would take her mid-year. Officially, her current school "cannot meet her needs." This isn't an appropriate forum in which to go into why the school has decided this after over 6 years of attendance (2 years of parent-toddler class, 1 year of preschool, 3 years of kindergarten), but the House of Glee is grateful that our local parish school has a first grade teacher who is experienced with children on the autistic spectrum and teaches a small class of caring, compassionate 6-7 year old children.

There's a lot more racial and economic diversity at the new school, and it is an easy walk from our house. It's a small, struggling school, but all reports from people I've talked to say that the community is strong, and the older kids look out for the younger ones. What a refreshing change that will be!

Lucia enjoyed her visit to the new school, but is sad to be leaving her old school. I think it will ultimately be a good change, and in years to come, we will look back with relief. But still, we will miss the Waldorf curriculum, the festivals of Michaelmas, Martinmas, Winter Spiral, May Day, and Whitsun (White Dove). Lucia was the oldest girl in her class, and she would probably have been the girl who got to wear the crown of candles on Santa Lucia Day. We will continue to celebrate those festivals in our own way, I hope.

Completed Dorothy Dress

As I mentioned in a previous post, I was working on a Dorothy from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz dress for Lucia's Halloween costume. She was going to be a witch until I found blue and white cotton gingham fabric. I had told her, "You know, you could still wear the silver shoes and be the Wicked Witch of the East before Dorothy's house landed on top of her," but Lucia did not think that was funny.

Here's the dress (Princess the blue dog plays Toto):



We saw four other Dorothy costumes last night, including a wee toddler in arms, but Lucia was the only Dorothy from the book, not the film.

Paper Doll Art

Bede is going to have two art shows at local venues this winter. One art show will be at the coffee shop 3 blocks from our house. Lucia is planning an art show, too, and has already started hanging her pictures over the fireplace. I hope that some of her paper-doll art inspired by Elisa Klevin's The Paper Princess and sequels will make it into the show. Here is a scanned reproduction of one of the paper-dolls:

On Reading the Little House Books

I have been reading aloud to Lucia the Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I loved them as a child, and reread them many times. While I recoiled at the racist depictions of Native American Indians and African-Americans (the minstrel show in Little Town on the Prairie) and was able to filter them out, it never occurred to me until I was an adult how these books might affect American Indian and African-American children. Why not? I certainly was affected by reading a lot of classics and contemporary books that were demeaning to women and girls.

Lucia first learned about the Little House books when one of her classmates dressed up as Mary, Laura's older sister. When my father sent out my dolls that had been stored in his attic for over 20 years, I gave Lucia the dolls that I had named Laura and Mary (Fisher Price My Friend dolls from the 1970's). She asked again about the books. I told her that the stories were good, but that there were certain things I objected to. I decided to read them aloud to her with some editing involved plus age-appropriate discussion about those sections.


"Laura" and "Mary" in their little bed

A couple of years ago, I brought up the issue of the Little House books with an online community, and my qualms about reading aloud a beloved series that I nonetheless had problems with. No one came out and directly accused me of censorship, but the term was bandied about. I didn't think that was fair. I didn't say others shouldn't read the books or that they should be removed from the shelves. I talked about my misgivings about giving the books to my own daughter, for whom I am supposed to be a responsible, conscientious parent. When I decided to read the books to Lucia, it was with the idea that this would be her introduction to the stories. Later, when she was older and had more critical thinking skills in place, she could read the books in their entirety.

It's almost two months since Lucia and I started reading the Little House books together. We're on These Happy Golden Years with no plans to continue on to the dreary The First Four Years, published after the deaths of both Wilder and her daughter, Rose Wilder Lane. We've talked about the issues mentioned above, plus the settlers' sense of entitlement to the land, and I think Lucia understands them as much as a 6 1/2 year old can understand.

While she enjoys the stories, Lucia is most fascinated with the clothes described. Last night, she interrupted my reading aloud to ask "What's a polonaise?"

"I think it's a bodice like a basque," I replied.

Please feel welcome to share in the comments or your own blog posts your experiences of being alienated by books beloved to others or your struggles with "problem books" you enjoyed as children.

Mishearing

In school last Wednesday, one of Lucia's friends was steering a "truck" full of things and stopped when he saw Lucia in his way. The friend said, "Beep, beep!" Lucia didn't move. "Beep, beep!" he said again. She still didn't move.

The friend said, "Excuse me!"

Lucia reached over and gently began to smooth down her friend's hair. Lucia's teacher asked, "Lucia, did you hear him say 'Excuse me?'"

Lucia replied, "Oh. I thought he said, 'Soothe me.'"

Bedtime Story, Story #7

Lucia likes to hear the story of her birth. Sometimes she wants to hear what "rrrrrreally happened" at the hospital, and other times, she wants to hear about when she used to be a bunny or a sweet pea. For today's LoStoWriMo post, here is the story of when Lucia was a star:

BEDTIME STORY

Once upon a time, a man and woman took a walk at night. They held hands, looked up into the sky, and said, "Oh, how we wish we had a child!"

From far away, a star heard the wish. It said, “I have been a star for a very long time. I would like to be a child now." The star traveled for a long time past other stars, planets and comets. As the star came closer to Earth, it became smaller and smaller. Finally, it dropped from the sky, landed in a strawberry patch, and turned into a child.

The man and woman walked by the strawberry patch and said, "Oh look! It's a child! Let's take her home." They took the child home and loved her. The child had soft brown hair and rosy cheeks. In her dark brown eyes they could see the stars.

Halloween Fairy

Have you heard of the Halloween Fairy? I first heard of her through my daughter's school. On Halloween night, after the fun of trick-or-treating is over, the child places all but a few desired pieces of candy in a basket or bowl for the Halloween Fairy to collect. In gratitude, the Halloween Fairy leaves a wonderful present (i.e. no socks or underwear unless they're on the child's wishlist).

Outside of school, most parents look at me with bemusement when I tell them about the Halloween Fairy. I can almost hear their thoughts:

Yeah, that's really cute. That may work in your Waldorf la-la land, but the Halloween Fairy would never fly with my kid.

These are the same parents whose kids faithfully put out stockings for Santa Claus long after they've discovered that there is no toe-monster, carrots do not make their hair curly and the Electoral College does not reflect the popular vote. They're gung-ho about the Easter Bunny and think the Tooth Fairy is great as long as the cash keeps coming. The Halloween Fairy deserves a chance, too.

Last year was the first time Lucia went trick-or-treating with friends. She enjoyed the pageantry of the costumes, liked the idea of getting lots of sweets, but was fine with putting out her stash for the Halloween Fairy. The next morning, she received a rhinestone tiara and the Halloween Fairy received a stomachache. This year, who knows what gift the Halloween Fairy will bring? Whatever Lucia receives in exchange for her candy will be worth the trade.

November 2, 2009 update: Here is a photo that has the wooden mushrooms and doll made by MrsBeccijo of theenchantedcupboard along with a hand-dyed silk by BeneathTheRowanTree that the Halloween Fairy left for my daughter in exchange for her candy:



Other items pictured from the NaturalKids team are the needle-felted mushroom girl by Nushkie, a wooden squirrel and crow by Mamakopp, and stitched dolls by me, Alkelda.

Noodle Pots and No-Boundaries

The House of Glee has returned from a trip back East in which we celebrated the wedding of my cousin to a lovely woman my brother and I refer to as our "cousin-in-law". The wedding took place outside on my aunt and uncle's Pennsylvania farm. Although it was chilly at times, the sun shone on the wedding day, and afterward, we had the reception in a tent. The day after, we enjoyed a picnic with the local and out-of-town guests.

I return to this blog wondering what I am going to do with it. I wish I were still anonymous, but perhaps the fact that I am not protects me from writing something I would regret publishing later. I can still share stories and songs with you, but I am always going to be holding something of myself back. I don't want to overshare, but there are times when writing about some of my struggles could be of benefit to others. I'm going to take a risk and see if it's true.

Here is what happened at the airport yesterday:

While we were waiting to board our connecting flight, Lucia struck up a conversation with a friendly passenger. The passenger (whom I will name No-Boundaries) told me that she worked with autistic children. That's great, I thought. I figured that she picked up on some of my daughter's mannerisms and could tell that there was something going on that had not yet been diagnosed. Then, she turned to my daughter and asked, "Are you autistic?" Lucia responded with, "What's autistic?"

As No-Boundaries began to explain to Lucia, I shook my head and explained to No-Boundaries that we were waiting for a diagnosis from a professional who would give a full-spectrum of tests. No-Boundaries overrode me to say loudly that Lucia probably had Asperger syndrome and expounded on all the symptoms that people with autism and Asperger syndrome had that Lucia shared.

I wish that I had just told No-Boundaries that it was inappropriate for her to ask Lucia (or any child!) if s/he had autism and not to diagnose my child in the airport, thank you. I was cautious about calling any more attention to this one-sided conversation so I restated that we had been counseled to avoid labels until Lucia received the full-spectrum of tests. No-Boundaries' husband piped up, "And you will get the full-spectrum. You're going to miss those questions when [your daughter] becomes withdrawn."

Someone else would have had sharp, witty responses that would have silenced No-Boundaries and her husband. (Maybe someone else would have knocked them in the teeth, too.) However, there was no winning in this situation. All they could register was the sound of their own voices. Then, No-Boundaries said goodbye to Lucia and told us what a wonderful child we had.

Thanks, lady.

It was obvious that No-Boundaries had issues of her own. I was incredulous that someone who claimed to love working with autistic children and could spout off a pat definition of autism in terms of how it related to social interactions could have no sense of emotional intelligence or sensitivity awareness. I had an armload of armchair diagnoses for her, too.

We don't know yet what Lucia's specific diagnosis is. We are committed to helping her through her challenges. It may well be that Lucia helps Bede and me through our challenges as well-- namely, learning how to tell busybodies to go sink their heads in pots of noodles.

I'll admit that I just edited myself. My original sentence was much ruder.

What You Never Knew About Nuns, Nonsense and Napkins

There is a series of humorous easy nonfiction books by Patrica Lauber that Lucia currently enjoys. The three titles available so far are: What You Never Knew About Beds, Bedrooms and Pajamas, What You Never Knew About Fingers, Forks and Chopsticks and What You Never Knew About Tubs, Toilets and Showers.

Lucia was inspired to "write" her own book: What You Never Knew About Nuns, Nonsense and Napkins. Ever since The Sound of Music, Lucia has been fascinated by nuns (in particular, their clothing). She told us the story a couple of days ago, and yesterday, I filmed it for her. I'll be the first to admit that making little videos is a grownup realization of a childhood desire. When I was Lucia's age, I had lots of stories in my head, but when it came to writing them down, I would get stymied and end the story early by making everyone quickly live happily ever after until they died. By the time my first younger brother was telling stories, we captured our creative output with an audio cassette recorder. We didn't think to keep them, as the whole point was the process of recording radio shows. The technology we have now is the kind that my brother and I dreamed of having when we were children.

I'm uploading to my Facebook account the video I shot and edited of Lucia reading her book. I will share the text (i.e. my transcription) here:




What You Never Knew About Nuns, Nonsense and Napkins
By Lucia

The First Nuns’ Outfits

Back in the time when there were no habits, nuns’ outfits were just a plain old skirt and a plain old top. But there was a nice old woman named Christiana and they called her the first Mother Superior. And then she made something. That she made two of it, and put one in the museum and put one on, and looked into the mirror and smiled. It was the first habit.

Now the Nonsense Part!

Once there was a land where everyone were serious. There were no knock-knock jokes in the world yet. There was a little girl, and her brother said:

Brother: Knock Knock!
Sister: Who’s there?
Brother: Banana.
Sister: Banana who?
Brother: Knock knock!
Sister: Who’s there?
Brother: Banana.
Sister: Banana who?
Brother: Knock knock!
Sister: Who’s there?
Brother: Orange.
Sister: Orange who?
Brother: Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?

[Lucia laughs.] Then the little boy laughed. Then everyone started copying the girl with more other knock-knock jokes. That was how nonsense was invented.

Napkins

One day, they said, “Here, here’s something you made for me. Thank you, thank you,” said the Mother Superior, said Christiana.

“You’re welcome,” said the postulant.

“What are they for?” [said the postulant] said the Mother Superior.

“They’re for putting your lap when food is going to get into your lap,” said the postulant.

That’s the end of part one!


****
Part two is a discussion among the nuns about how they have fallen in love with the pope but how popes and nuns can’t get married, so they’ll have to be friends. Part two was narrated once but never made it to video in its original form.

Guitars, Sequels and Nuns

Music:

This was my last week of French camp gigs. My last gig was a regular musical storytime akin to the ones I usually present. I didn't tell many stories as the children were in no mood to sit and listen-- in fact, two of the guys in the front started shooting each other with finger-pistols. At first I ignored it, but then thought I needed to say something. What came out of my mouth was, "Guns are resting during storytime." It didn't work, but I remembered that years ago when I worked in a daycare, we often told the kids that there were "No guns in daycare." Whether there's a piece of breakfast toast or a toy block, something can be made into a gun.

Afterward, one of the parents who stayed told me that her son always came home from camp talking about the "lady with the guitar". In my book, that is high praise indeed. I have dreamed of being the Lady with the Guitar.

I'm currently working on bass runs and barred chords with the plan of actually implementing them in songs for performance by the end of the year. I want to be able to do them with confidence.

Reading:

I waited for a year for Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. When I finally got my copy, I plowed through it. Even though I knew I would have to wait another year for the resolution, I just couldn't put it down. Ever since the final page, I've been listless and grouchy. I haven't been this grouchy about waiting for a sequel since I first read Philip Pullman's The Subtle Knife. I recognize this current need for escapist fiction from reading patterns in earlier years. It's because the real world just breaks me up. There is injustice, heartache, wrongful death and needless suffering in the world. I can write letters to congressfolk, vote, and pray, but I can't stop the things that are wrong. Within the parameters of fiction, there is hope for a new world order within the lifetimes of the characters.

Regarding Catching Fire, I know there's discussion in forums about whom Katniss, the main character, will end up with with romantically, if she ends up with anyone at all. I really don't care. That's not why I'm reading the books. I'm reading the books because I am hoping that Collins will deliver on a new world order in the country of Panem that eradicates the poverty, starvation and cruelty inflicted by the Capitol upon the rest of the Districts. I take the books personally. I want justice in Panem. In the real world, justice is having a hard time coming up for air.

Parenting:

Does anyone have any recommendations for children's books about nuns besides Demi's Mother Teresa? I can visualize a DK book a la "Eyewitness: Nun" but it doesn't actually exist. Ever since Lucia watched "The Sound of Music" she's been obsessed with nuns. She loves the habits and thinks they are fancy. Lucia wanted to be a nun when she grew up until I pointed out that nuns are obedient and take a vow of poverty, i.e. no tiaras. Lucia said, "I won't be a nun, then. I'll be an actress and play a nun in a movie." She's gone to bed now, and is listening to Taize music to soothe her to sleep.

Young Enough for Nancy Stewart

From a conversation I had with Lucia yesterday evening:


Me: Nancy Stewart is coming to the Madrona Library on July 1. Do you want to go, or are you too old for Nancy concerts?

Lucia: I'm still young enough. [Pause.] I will never be too old for Nancy concerts. I will be one hundred and two.

Low Tide

Today's field trip