{"id":798,"date":"2007-07-23T00:01:33","date_gmt":"2007-07-23T06:01:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=798"},"modified":"2014-04-24T06:40:59","modified_gmt":"2014-04-24T12:40:59","slug":"seven-impossible-interviews-before-breakfast-37-saint-and-spinner-farida-dowler-aka-alkelda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=798","title":{"rendered":"Seven Impossible Interviews Before Breakfast #37: Saint and Spinner, Farida Dowler (a.k.a Alkelda)"},"content":{"rendered":"

{Note: What excellent timing! Alkelda is hosting the current Carnival of Children’s Literature today over at her site. Go see<\/a><\/strong>!}<\/em><\/p>\n

Okay, so Farida (otherwise known as Alkelda over at her wonderful blog, Saints and Spinners<\/strong><\/em><\/a>) may not appreciate being called a saint. That’s a lot of pressure. But Jules, in particular, has gotten to know her a lot more lately, and she’s a good, kind person. So there. Saint she will be in our world. <\/p>\n

Farida is pictured here with her daughter, who goes by “Lucia” at her site. “Everyone in the House of Glee has a saint’s name or pseudonym, with the exception of Brad the Gorilla<\/a><\/strong>, my tenant,” Farida told us. “Brad will probably be outraged<\/a><\/strong> that he doesn’t get his own interview. Maybe I’ll interview him for Saints and Spinners<\/em> just to appease his wrath. I don’t want a gorilla hurling rotten bananas at me from the top of our hutch, after all.” <\/p>\n

We at 7-Imp think that Farida’s blog (Saints and Spinners<\/em>, that is — for the record, she has another blog<\/a><\/strong> that serves as her “gig website”) is one of the most distinctive kidlit blogs out there. As a professional storyteller (who also has her M.S. in Library Science) who shares folktales that appeal to all ages (using finger-puppets and instruments to accompany traditional and original songs for toddlers and preschool children; “My favorite stories contain fools, tricksters, and unconventional heroes,” she writes at her site), Farida uses both her gig site and her Saints and Spinners<\/em> blog to talk about storytelling<\/a><\/strong>, her storytelling techniques and props<\/a><\/strong>, stories<\/a><\/strong> (of course), saints<\/strong><\/a> (of course — Farida says, “{I feature} Stories of the Saints, especially when there are specific anecdotes about them”), children’s music (both traditional<\/a><\/strong> and contemporary<\/a><\/strong>), other musicians<\/a><\/strong> who create music for children, mix tapes<\/a><\/strong> for her readers; thoughts on parenting (here is Jules’ very, very favorite post<\/a><\/strong> of Farida’s on parenting), her gardening<\/a><\/strong>, and sometimes her own personal life and adventures with her daughter<\/a><\/strong> — without ever getting uncomfortably personal. She also contributes<\/a><\/strong> to Poetry Fridays. <\/p>\n

<\/a>And, lucky for us all, she’s recently started two series of sorts, entitled “Children\u2019s Books that Never Were” and “Song of the Week.” The first series features the fictional collected letters of one Garrulous MacKenzie<\/a><\/strong>, “hapless editor and Ursula Nordstrom groupie, offering advice to new writers such as Shel Silverstein, Robert McCloskey, and Marjorie Flack,” says Farida. Really, these are funny. Check out The Misgiving Tree<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, Revenge of the Carrot Seed<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, and Terror of the Toilet<\/a><\/strong><\/em> — to name a few. Penny Esmarkus, nemesis of Ms. MacKenzie even got her own 7Imp-style interview<\/a><\/strong> over there at Saints and Spinners<\/em> . . . As for “Song of the Week,” Farida told us, “this is a new feature whereby I post the lyrics to a child-friendly folksong, chords for the guitar players, sound files when available, and any personal recollections I might have.” This is a fabulous new feature: check out this<\/a><\/strong> and this<\/a><\/strong> and this<\/a><\/strong>! <\/p>\n

As for the story of the blog’s name, here’s what Farida had to say:<\/p>\n

After one of my storytelling programs at Island Books<\/a><\/strong> (yay, Island Books!) in Mercer Island, Washington, I was chatting with one of the mothers about different kinds of stories. \u201cThe stories I like to tell usually involve fools who end up doing well for themselves.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThose are the best kinds of stories,\u201d the mother replied. Then, we started talking about saints, because there are a number of saints who were considered to be foolish for one reason or another (think of St. Francis<\/a><\/strong> stripping off all of his clothes in front of his father to rid himself of worldly possessions). I recommended Once Upon a Time Saints<\/a><\/strong><\/em>, and More Once Upon a Time Saints<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (by Ethel Pochoki) as child-friendly books. <\/p>\n

All at once, it occurred to me that I should do a storytime about the saints and also one about different textiles in fairy tales. \u201cI\u2019ll call the program ‘Saints and Spinners’!\u201d I said. The mother thought that was a good idea. I carried the idea around in my mind, but it wasn\u2019t until a month later, when I started a blog simply so I could comment on a friend\u2019s blog, that the name returned to me. <\/p>\n

For the record, here are some stories involving weaving, sewing and other manners of textile arts: <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n