{"id":546,"date":"2007-03-17T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2007-03-17T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=546"},"modified":"2007-07-03T10:19:38","modified_gmt":"2007-07-03T16:19:38","slug":"seven-good-things-before-monday-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=546","title":{"rendered":"Seven Good Things Before Monday #2"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"anSo, it looks like we for sure need to make a real series out of last Saturday’s idea<\/a><\/strong> to highlight Beautiful and\/or Kick-Ass Things That Happened to You or That You Read or That You Noticed This Week. Yes, that was last week’s working title for the series, but it’s a bit cumbersome, eh? What do you think of Seven Good Things Before Monday? Feedback, anyone?<\/p>\n

So, yes, that idea really took off with all kinds of folks chiming in and wanting to discuss A Bit of the Good. As Betsy Bird put it well when she mentioned this series idea<\/a><\/strong> over at A Fuse #8 Production<\/strong><\/a>, “{s}ometimes we’re so smothered in snark that we have a hard time appreciating the ‘nice.’ And I’m talking actual ‘nice’ here. Not ooey-gooey saccharine-filled ‘nice.'” To that Eisha and I say: word<\/em> and for shizzle<\/em>. We don’t want things to get ooey-gooey. We’re not fans of ooey-gooey. Yup, as we mentioned last week, it’s this simple: the world is scary, the news is depressing as hell. I, for one, have children. I’m worried about the world in which they’re growing up and the world of their futures. We can do something about some of the problems, but we can also take a moment to notice The Kick-Ass.<\/p>\n

So, my list is below. But first, three things: 1> Eisha is not able to participate this week. But I hope she will be able to next week. 2> Let’s move this from Saturdays to Sundays, whaddya say? Can we cyber-gather on Sundays? That will give Eisha and me more time to compose these weekend lists — and give you one more day in the week to notice Some Good. 3> THANKS to everyone who participated last week. Please come play again. And we want updates anyway on sharing glamour shots, doing nice things for yourself, big moves, drumming, daughters getting scholarships, Dalek-shaped cookies and everything else we missed . . . you know who you are. Update, people, update! Oh, and add this week’s Good Things. <\/p>\n

I humbly submit . . . <\/p>\n

* * * * * * * My Seven Good Things Before Monday * * * * * * *<\/strong><\/center> <\/p>\n
    \n
  1. The very last sentence of The Book Thief<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. Jacqueline Woodson’s<\/a><\/strong> Zena Sutherland Lecture — “How Do I Come Home Again?” — in the current issue<\/strong><\/a> of The Horn Book<\/em>:
    \n

    Sometimes, when I write, I close my eyes as my fingers fly over the keys. When my friend James saw me typing once, he said it was like The Matrix<\/em>. I know this writing thing is a gift, although I don’t know why it was the gift I was given. I know it became clear the first time I heard Ms. Moskowitz {Woodson’s third-grade teacher} read “The Little Match Girl,” when everything in me wanted to do what Andersen did, to feel again the way Andersen made me feel.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/li>\n

  3. Author Bonny Becker<\/a><\/strong> telling me that our interviews have sparked dinner-table discussions at her home, her 18-year-old daughter helping Bonny pick out her favorite swear word. But, best of all, her husband’s response to the last Pivot question<\/a><\/strong>: If there’s a higher power waiting for Bonny’s husband at the Pearly Gates, he wants to hear, “we have high speed wireless” . . .<\/li>\n
  4. The moment in The Higher Power of Lucky<\/strong><\/a><\/em> in which Lucky is lying down in the dugout after having poured mineral oil into her ear to kill the bug in her head, and Miles \u201creads\u201d Are You My Mother?<\/em> to her after she tells him, \u201cI need you, Miles! I need you to help me!\u201d
    \n

    “‘A mother bird sat on her egg,\u201d\u2019 Miles read, and sighed deeply, his voice full of wonder.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

  5. The thought-provoking discussion that stemmed from this<\/strong><\/a> post at Roger Sutton’s blog<\/strong><\/a> (from this past Wednesday) — with the perfect post title, too. Eisha and I have our own reasons for primarily posting about the books we like<\/em> (“primarily,” because sometimes we just gotta speak up<\/strong><\/a>), which I won’t get into here. But nevertheless that doesn’t mean I can’t say that Roger’s thoughts on the matter made a lot of sense and have made my Seven Good Things list, ’cause Roger can take topics like this and speak reasonably about them and moderate them well — and professionally so (so can Kelly<\/strong><\/a>, who began the conversation, really).\n

    I have typed this before on our blog and then deleted it, as it looks like nothing other than pure and unadulterated sucking up, but I’m going to just say it: Thank heavens Roger is President of All Things Horn Book<\/em> — rather, that he has a presence and voice in this field. He’s a breath of fresh air. <\/p>\n

    There. I just said it. And I’m not sucking up. Never met the man.<\/li>\n

  6. Speaking of sites that mix positive and<\/em> not-so positive reviews . . . The Excelsior File<\/strong><\/a> is one of my top-five favorite blogs. David Elzey willingly and fairly and respectfully rips a book a new one when he feels it deserves it. I hope he doesn’t take this the wrong way (as it doesn’t sound<\/em> like a compliment but is one), but I think he is refreshingly surly (smart and discerning, but surly in just-the-right-amount). Anyway, he’s made my Seven Good Things list, ’cause of this<\/strong><\/a> — he’s reading a Grimm story a day and intends to post about one each week (more if he can). He’s already done The Frog King, Or Iron Heinrich<\/strong><\/a><\/em> (which got me all inspired to mount to the Web an old grad school project, my annotation of that tale<\/strong><\/a>. If, by chance, you look at it, just ignore “The Quiz” page; it’s embarrassing on many levels) and The Virgin Mary’s Child<\/strong><\/em><\/a>. I love this idea. I would like to be a Grimm’s scholar in another life (Elzey and Kristen at pixie stix kids pix<\/a><\/strong> have also been thoughtfully discussing graphic novels this week — I believe it began here<\/strong><\/a> with her review of Polo: The Runaway Book<\/strong><\/em><\/a> — which I love and had planned on reviewing, but oh my just read Kristen’s excellent review instead — and then went here<\/strong><\/a> and here<\/strong><\/a>).<\/li>\n
  7. Lastly and quickly, five more things lumped into one, as I’m at Number Seven already: a> I get to see Eisha this weekend. I’m sorry that she’s back home for a funeral, but at least, since she’s back home, I get to see her; b> I introduced Haven Kimmel<\/a><\/strong> (object of my and Eisha’s hero worship) to Naomi Shihab Nye’s<\/strong><\/a> beautiful poem, “Famous,”<\/strong><\/a> and even got a thank-you for it. She described reading the poem as a “gift.” That makes me happy; c> the daffodils blooming in our yard and my daughter’s sunflower blooming on our kitchen table; and d> and e> combined: these lyrics (“Happy Birthday”) from the new Innocence Mission<\/strong><\/a> CD next to a photo of my daughters dancing ’round the room, exuding great joy — and this is shortly after my oldest turned three:\n

    “When you wake up sun will shine.
    \nWe will not go under any cloud.
    \nLet balloons go up in town,
    \nring out every bell.
    \nHappy birthday, beautiful,
    \nall the birds of this day
    \nsing a song, sing a song.<\/p>\n

    Dream of trains carrying you
    \nthrough the state parks with the cherry flowers.
    \nWhen you wake up it will be
    \nthe beginning of the world.
    \nHappy birthday, beautiful,
    \nin the fields of this day
    \nhear a song, hear a song . . .”<\/p>\n

    I should probably stop here, as I should ask for permission to type the lyrics in their entirety. Go here<\/a><\/strong> to read the rest. <\/p>\n

    What are your Good Things? (And you can visit Robin<\/a><\/strong> on Fridays to report something nice<\/a><\/strong> you did for yourself<\/em> weekly — I need to work on that one). Cheers!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    So, it looks like we for sure need to make a real series out of last Saturday’s idea to highlight Beautiful and\/or Kick-Ass Things That Happened to You or That You Read or That You Noticed This Week. Yes, that was last week’s working title for the series, but it’s a bit cumbersome, eh? What […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=546"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}