How to use this Page

So, February happened...
 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it gave me whiplash as it hurricaned by. It was a *blink* "Whaaaaaa....?" kind of month. Literally, like, *blink*, Valentine's Day, DISNEYLAND, and WHAM. March.


But yeah, directly after Valentine's Day, we got ourselves packed off in a three-car caravan to Disneyland. *Insert whooping and hollering and eight dedicated hours of listening to Il Volo.*





















I want to go back to Disneyland again. Maybe not any time in the near future, but say, like in five years or so. I'd want to for sure re-ride California Screaming, Tower of Terror, Hyperspace Mountain, Star Tours and the Indiana Jones ride, and I wouldn't mind getting back on the Matterhorn and Splash Mountain. I DO want to do Soaring Over California - we weren't able to make that one this year - but other than that, I'd want to explore more, visit more of the park and actually SEE everything instead of hurrying so much. I'd want to check out some of the shops a bit more than I did this time, especially Disneyania where they had two artists arting (that sounds like the 12 days of Christmas, doesn't it? "Two Artists Arting and a Shop full of Disneyland ART!) and The Mad Hatter, and visit Critter Corner and that kind of stuff. So next time, a little more walking and less riding, I think. It was crazy fun, though, and there were so many of us, it was a little terrifying - we were a mob of 17 and we were COOOOOL. IT was coooooool! :-) See? Look at us! Look at how COOL we are! (What a mob.)

Add a Comment

I'm thrilled to announce that my latest picture book, Papa's Suns is scheduled to be released shortly.  Below is the official blurb for this book which should be coming out at the end of the month.

Jacob and his grandfather like to spend time drawing pictures together. But after
Papa has a stroke, Jacob is afraid that his Papa will be different. Although Papa’s
body is healing, Jacob discovers that the love between him and his grandfather will
never change.

This book is close to my heart because it based on the relationship between my father-in-law and my daughter. Here is a sneak peek at the cover.  The illustrations are beautifully done by Samantha Bell.

Add a Comment

Ever since Jack came to visit us near the middle/end of March, I have been rushing, rushing, rushing, and completely neglecting this corner of the blogosphere.

*sigh*

I did post a Good Friday story!

*Hopeful smile*

However, that wasn't really a blog post, was it?

So, I'll give you an update of what's been happening.

I'm visiting a sister.  She had a baby a few weeks ago.

I have so many pictures, you guys!










As you can see, I'm absolutely delighted to be holding Baby Jessica Marie, fifth child and fourth daughter of Dan and Regina Gieser.  Actually, I"m thinking about framing that picture, because I think it's freakin' adorable!

So, I've been here with my sis for about a month.  We painted a room on the Saturday before Jessica was born.  I'm firmly convinced it was the painting, and the walk to the library on Monday that persuaded Jessica to be born three days before her due date.


We also put up border in the bathroom -- that was a headache and a half!! It was pre-pasted stuff, and it was ten years old. This was a fact I was totally unaware of while I was putting up the first roll.  I'm sure that's why it took Gina and me an hour to put up that first roll - that, and the fact that I think we soaked it in water a little too long, and were laughing because of all the random movie quotes we were spouting out about the fact that it wasn't sticking.  (We actually saved the last two rolls for after Jessica's birth, and those went up much easier.  We used less water. :-)


We had a great Easter, too.  I had a basket filled with so much chocolate, and a very pretty butterfly barrette.  That Easter bunny knew what I'd like. :)


On a totally separate note, I also finished my Transcription course.  I scored a 100% on the transcription itself, and graduated with an overall score of 97.6%.

Holla!

I have also been accepted into the internship program, which starts in June.  Prayers would be greatly appreciated, since during the internship I'll be getting real experience with real patients and real chart notes.

Source

Well, that's all for now from me.  I hope you enjoyed the pictures.  I can't promise I'll be posting for another few weeks, because I'm heading to my other sister's place this weekend, and she doesn't really have internet at the moment.

Add a Comment

The Birds (Gli Uccelli)  is a picture book I published with the now dormant publishing house Despina, based in Milan. Two printings were issued, which are both sold out. So, I’ve decided to put the whole book online, with a couple minor changes.

I hope you like it, and if you do, feel free to spread the word.

Thank you.

Sergio

Click here to open the PDF file: TheBirds

 

Add a Comment

By Barbara Zelizer

A New York Post photographer snaps a picture of a man as he is pushed to his death in front of a New York City subway. An anonymous blogger photographs a dying American ambassador as he is carried to hospital after an attack in Libya. Multiple images following a shooting at the Empire State Building show its victims across both social media and news outlets. A little over three months, three events, three pictures, three circles of outrage.

The most recent event involved a freelancer working for the New York Post who captured an image of a frantic Queens native as he tried futilely to escape an approaching train. Depicting the man clinging to the subway platform as the train sped toward him, the picture appeared on the Post’s front cover. Within hours, observers began deriding both the photographer and the newspaper: the photographer, they said, should have helped the man and avoided taking a picture, while earlier photos by him were critiqued for being soft and of insufficient news value; the newspaper, they continued, should not have displayed the picture, certainly not on its front cover, and its low status as a tabloid was trotted out as an object of collective sneering.

We have heard debates like this before — when pictures surfaced surrounding the deaths of leaders in the Middle East, the slaying of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, the shattering of those imperiled by numerous natural disasters, wars and acts of terror. Such pictures capture the agony of people facing their deaths, depicting the final moment of life in a way that draws viewers through a combination of empathy, voyeurism, and a recognition of sheer human anguish. But the debates that ensue over pictures of people about to die have less to do with the pictures, photographers or news publications that display them and more to do with the unresolved sentiments we have about what news pictures are for. Decisions about how best to accommodate pictures of impending death in the difficult events of the news inhabit a sliding rule of squeamishness, by which cries of appropriateness, decency and privacy are easily tossed about, but not always by the same people, for the same reasons or in any enduring or stable manner.

Pictures are powerful because they condense the complexity of difficult events into one small, memorable moment, a moment driven by high drama, public engagement, the imagination, the emotions and a sense of the contingent. No surprise, then, that what we feel about them is not ours alone. Responses to images in the news are complicated by a slew of moral, political and technological imperatives. And in order to show, see and engage with explicit pictures of death, impending or otherwise, all three parameters have to work in tandem: we need some degree of moral insistence to justify showing the pictures; we need political imperatives that mandate the importance of their being seen; and we need available technological opportunities that can easily facilitate their display. Though we presently have technology aplenty, our political and moral mandates change with circumstance. Consider, for instance, why it was okay to show and see Saddam Hussein about to die but not Daniel Pearl, to depict victims dying in the Asian tsunami but not those who jumped from the towers of 9/11. Suffice it to say that had the same picture of the New York City subway been taken in the 1940s, it would have generated professional acclaim, won awards, and become iconic.

At a time in which we readily see explicit images of death and violence all the time on television series, in fictional films and on the internet, we are troubled by the same graphic images in the news. We wouldn’t expect our news stories to keep from us the grisly details of difficult events out there in the world. We should expect no less from our news pictures.

Barbie Zelizer is the Raymond Williams Chair of Communication and the Director of the Scholars Program in Culture and Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of About to Die: How News Images Move the Public.  

Subscribe to the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Subscribe to only media articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.

The post Why we are outraged: the New York Post photo controvery appeared first on OUPblog.

Add a Comment

By Barbie Zelizer

A New York Post photographer snaps a picture of a man as he is pushed to his death in front of a New York City subway. An anonymous blogger photographs a dying American ambassador as he is carried to hospital after an attack in Libya. Multiple images following a shooting at the Empire State Building show its victims across both social media and news outlets. A little over three months, three events, three pictures, three circles of outrage.

The most recent event involved a freelancer working for the New York Post who captured an image of a frantic Queens native as he tried futilely to escape an approaching train. Depicting the man clinging to the subway platform as the train sped toward him, the picture appeared on the Post’s front cover. Within hours, observers began deriding both the photographer and the newspaper: the photographer, they said, should have helped the man and avoided taking a picture, while earlier photos by him were critiqued for being soft and of insufficient news value; the newspaper, they continued, should not have displayed the picture, certainly not on its front cover, and its low status as a tabloid was trotted out as an object of collective sneering.

We have heard debates like this before — when pictures surfaced surrounding the deaths of leaders in the Middle East, the slaying of Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, the shattering of those imperiled by numerous natural disasters, wars and acts of terror. Such pictures capture the agony of people facing their deaths, depicting the final moment of life in a way that draws viewers through a combination of empathy, voyeurism, and a recognition of sheer human anguish. But the debates that ensue over pictures of people about to die have less to do with the pictures, photographers or news publications that display them and more to do with the unresolved sentiments we have about what news pictures are for. Decisions about how best to accommodate pictures of impending death in the difficult events of the news inhabit a sliding rule of squeamishness, by which cries of appropriateness, decency and privacy are easily tossed about, but not always by the same people, for the same reasons or in any enduring or stable manner.

Pictures are powerful because they condense the complexity of difficult events into one small, memorable moment, a moment driven by high drama, public engagement, the imagination, the emotions and a sense of the contingent. No surprise, then, that what we feel about them is not ours alone. Responses to images in the news are complicated by a slew of moral, political and technological imperatives. And in order to show, see and engage with explicit pictures of death, impending or otherwise, all three parameters have to work in tandem: we need some degree of moral insistence to justify showing the pictures; we need political imperatives that mandate the importance of their being seen; and we need available technological opportunities that can easily facilitate their display. Though we presently have technology aplenty, our political and moral mandates change with circumstance. Consider, for instance, why it was okay to show and see Saddam Hussein about to die but not Daniel Pearl, to depict victims dying in the Asian tsunami but not those who jumped from the towers of 9/11. Suffice it to say that had the same picture of the New York City subway been taken in the 1940s, it would have generated professional acclaim, won awards, and become iconic.

At a time in which we readily see explicit images of death and violence all the time on television series, in fictional films and on the internet, we are troubled by the same graphic images in the news. We wouldn’t expect our news stories to keep from us the grisly details of difficult events out there in the world. We should expect no less from our news pictures.

Barbie Zelizer is the Raymond Williams Chair of Communication and the Director of the Scholars Program in Culture and Communication at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. She is the author of About to Die: How News Images Move the Public.  

Subscribe to the OUPblog via email or RSS.
Subscribe to only media articles on the OUPblog via email or RSS.

The post Why we are outraged: the New York Post photo controversy appeared first on OUPblog.

Add a Comment

Michael Goodwin is a writer and editor with a degree in Chinese studies. He has lived in China, India, and now New York City. Dan E. Burr illustrated the classic graphic novel Kings in Disguise. He lives in Milwaukee.

Add a Comment

This morning Little Tug author Stephen Savage went 'Tug Spotting' for footage for the upcoming book trailer for Little Tug (on sale October 2!).

Check out Stephen's pictures and captions from this morning's tug spotting boat ride!

 

 

July 12, 2012: Macmillan Children's Publishing Group Director of Marketing Elizabeth Fithian took us on a tug-spotting boat ride.

 

Our fearless captain was Elizabeth's dad, Dick Kohn (middle). Also on board was video director David Franklin...

 

... and me, Stephen Savage -- author and illustrator of LITTLE TUG (Roaring Brook Press, Neal Porter Books).

 

The sun rose at 5:36am.

 

Hey, that looks like a page from the book!

 

Well... sorta.

 

The Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which connects Brooklyn with Staten Island, was the model for the bridge in the book.

 

David shot video footage for the upcoming tug trailer.

 

At 8:30, the beautiful morning light was gone and Captain Kohn returned to shore!

Add a Comment

Well here is the post with the pictures of books that I snagged at BEA. I have a few duplicates that I will be giving away within the next couple of weeks. Right now I have The Darkest Minds contest going on so make sure to enter that. The next contest going up will be Magisterium by Jeff Hirsch who wrote The Eleventh Plague. It's not signed. If I grabbed a book, I generally didn't stand on line for signings, because you get another book and well, carrying said books gets really heavy. I did bring a suitcase and checked it in so I could dump books when it became the shoulder bags became so heavy.

One thing about this year at BEA was the amount of finished copies I received. Usually the pubs just give away ARCs or bound galleys, but as you can see from the far left column of books, I have seven finished copies. Yeah, they're very heavy.


Um, yeah, these stacks are crazy. As you can tell I cut off the top not willingly, but because I just couldn't get the stacks all in one picture! The far right column of books are the giveaway books. Hubby actually came up with a good idea and said I should've created a list of books that I grabbed and crossed it off so I wouldn't end up with duplicates. But in all honesty, it's easy to forget what book you took and what you thought you took. Hence, the ending up with duplicates or even triplicates! (Which kinda sucks because, yeah, I have to carry them!)


Here's a better picture of the stacks. Some of my favorite books that I got are Fallen Kingdoms, The Farm, Shadows, Crewel, Throne of Glass, For Darkness Shows the Stars, The Darkest Minds, Altered, Eve & Adam. I made sure to pick out some books for my 8 yo as well. They had so many middle grade books just for the taking that I really couldn't pass that up. To see her face when I brought them home was priceless. I also picked her up a HUGE Reeses Peanut Butter Cup from the Hershey Store. ONE POUND of chocolate peanut butter goodness. When I say that it is huge, I am not lying!

BEA was a blast and I had so much fun meeting up with bloggers that I tweet with and having people recognize my blog was just incredibly humbling. I was invited to so many after parties or breakfasts. I would really have to say meeting my publishing contacts was really awesome. Putting a face to a name really makes them more human and not just an e-mail. I was so excited to meet my Little Brown contact at the SoHo Press party and when she told me she knew my blog and she worked for LB, I knew exactly who she was. I had a great time meeting her roommate and her neighbor, who I've been told is a fantastic cook (I've already invited myself over for dinner! :-p).
<

Add a Comment

Remember my blogging workshop at the Filipinas Heritage Library? The picture above is with about half of the participants. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of the participants. I really enjoyed meeting new people and talking about blogging and other social media!

Add a Comment

Now to make my bookshelves just as full. :o)

By the way, click here to see where I got the picture above. It goes with a nice little rant about how a lot of people forget the diversity in Asia.

Display Comments Add a Comment

Day 2 SCBWI 13 annual winter conference In the Big Apple.

       Wow, can't believe another day had just passed. It was an over whelming one full of lots of enlightenment and good news on all genres from picture books to young adults and beyond. I will try to put In the important information in here in a a few paragraphs. I have 11 pages of notes but will try to make it brief.
   It was a list of amazing guest speakers which included authors, agents, editors, publishers and other people involved in the business. The day started with breakfast, and the first keynote speaker was Chris Crutcher. He was a very inspiring speaker, that inspired the room that represented 49 states and 20 countries. The conference had 1400 people. He spoke about the importance of balancing out stories with tragedy and comedy. Here is a brief list to inspire you guys of what he talked about 1) Look into your life to find information 2) Put this into every story you write. 3) Power and connection of family is important. 4) Just write your story. 5) Hear it in your language and voice.
     The next speakers was panel children book pros which included two editor directors, a marketing person and agent. They covered lots of information, but I will l.limit the list to three basic important ideas.
1) Independent Book stores are growing 2) Picture Books are not dead 3) The Digital publishing market is expanding. In general now is a good time to get your book out there in the publishing industry. You also must understand that it takes a village to make a book. That it is important to also work as a team on each book.
    Our next speaker was a great surprise for all of us. It was Henry Whinkler. He was one of the best speeches of the day. He got a standing ovation today. He only spoke for ten minutes, but his ideas, comedy and inspiration touched us all.
     We then broke up into small groups I went to a fantasy meeting first. Then after lunch I had  two picture book small groups. Before the two afternoon sessions we had another key note speaker her name was Cassandra Clare she spoke of Love triangles and forbidden love in YA adult books. She was interesting speaker but not very inspiring to me, since it was not my kind of topic.
    I will just list the basic things of what editors are looking for in picture book manuscripts:
1) Characterization 2) Narrative guilty 3) Voice 4) Humor 5) Universal appeal. 6) Clear ideas and simplicity.
       In conclusion, the day ended with a wonderful cocktail party, and dinner that gave us two hours to network with other people in the industry. The day ended, and I got back on the train home full of inspiration, new ideas and hope for the future of children's books. There is now one more day left for this conference that I look forward to tomorrow.  I will make my last post this month called All great things come to an end.  
  

                        

Add a Comment

Have you been taking great photos of your friends at the New York conference? Post them to the first-ever photoblog.

It's easy:

From a mobile phone, share your photos via email by sending them to:

[email protected]

(The body text of the email will become the caption, not the subject.)

Or, from a computer, click here!
Enjoy the photos, and (to be read in the voice of a stern mother) use your best judgment when you post.

Add a Comment

I have the most beautiful mommy in the world. <3 She was a beauty queen and model for many years!

Display Comments Add a Comment

Add a Comment

They eat good food.







They visit cemeteries where revolutionaries used to secretly meet.



5 Comments on So what do English teachers do for fun?, last added: 8/23/2011