Just Don’t Pull the Drain
Fall has arrived in Arkansas. I'm so glad. I love every single season, but by the end of one, I'm ready for the next. And of course, the closer we get to fall, the closer we get to snow days. Buh-ring it.
The lovely and talented author Miralee Ferrell sent me iPhone video of portions of my acceptance speeches from the ACFW conference. Here is the YA award where I'm a little monotone thanks to whatever over-the-counter plague combatant my friend Jeanne Wynne slipped me.
There was some mix-up over which of the first two Charmed Life books won, so I just thanked everyone who'd ever touched the two books. Except that creepy man I met last month in Borders.
You can also see a fragment of the speech for Just Between You and Me. Not that anyone would want to. This is not exactly Must See TV. Unless you're my mom.
In hindsight, I wish I had put a little more thought into my dress for the Carol Awards. I just decided to pull out the dress I had worn two years earlier. It wasn't about frugality. It was my silent protest about the state of the economy. I got the LBD at Banana Republic, and I did make a small effort to find a new dress for this year. Two years ago I remember I had a hard time choosing from Banana. This year I couldn't have picked ONE if I'd had to. So two years ago little black dress options. This year? THIS is what I saw:
Number one, I had that shirt in 1988. Or maybe my dad did. I definitely had those shoes though (Payless, circa 1990). But where is this girl's pants? It's bad enough models don't get to eat. But now they're deprived of pantalones?
So it's Banned Book Week, something I usually don't bother commenting on. But this year I'm unimpressed over the call to ban Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson in Republic, MO, which is not too far from me. As this associate professor was calling for the removal of these books due to the content being rated triple X, I was in Indiana telling writers in a YA class to put the older book on their must-read list. The story is about a girl who makes a wrong choice and goes to a party, knowing she shouldn't be there, and suffers some horrible consequences including rape. Fifty percent of rape cases reported are adolescents, so I can't IMAGINE why Anderson would want to write a book about the dangers of silence and the power and courage of finally speaking up. I'd be interested to know if Professor Scroggins has read the book. When I taught English and had a large classroom library, this book was a mainstay on my shelf. Plus, Lifetime made it into a movie, so it HAS to be good, right?! The Green Bean Teen Queen said it better than I did.
This isn't related to anything, but I am pretty sure this dog and my cat are related.
Have a great weekend! See you Monday.
