In high school, one of my social studies teachers taught us the initialism CREPS, standing for culture, religion, economics, politics, social. When you are writing about a historical event or movement, she wanted us to be sure to take into account those areas. So here is a CREPS Friday Five.

1. CULTURE. After watching the Tonys Sunday night, I rediscovered the amazing musical theater available on YouTube. I now have an ear worm of Hugh Jackman's 2005 Tony performance of "Not the Boy Next Door," that cannot be overcome, even by Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe," the previous ear worm.



2. RELIGION. I've been thrilled to get the occasional Facebook updates from our youth minister as she has braved the wilds of Queens, NY, with a group of our youth, including my second daughter. In all the uploaded FB photos, C appears to be happy. I can't imagine picking up trash in parks is making her happy, so I guess it's something more intangible. Either way, I can't wait to see her this evening and hear the details of the trip.

3. ECONOMICS. My recent high school graduate started her post-school job today. She had a part-time job in Massachusetts, so it's not her first job, but it's the job that she will probably stay at for a while. So far, so good.

4. POLITICS. Um, geez. I don't want to go there. I will say that there was an interesting discussion on the Blue Boards this week about "blurb politics" that made me glad picture books generally don't get blurbed. :)

5. SOCIAL. If you look at "social" as parties, I have nothing to say. But if you think of it as "Anne Marie getting to see people in the outside world," then this week, I went to Bible Study (where we really do try to focus on Most Important Things, but often end up chatting) and a swim meet, where yes, while we are serious about our kids' swimming, we do a lot of chatting, too.

Well, that's my CREPS. It certainly makes for an organized entry, though it doesn't touch on some things. I guess I could have included my writing under culture, though somehow that seems a little overconfident. I will mention that VAMPIRINA BALLERINA got a starred review in Publisher's Weekly, which was then a featured review in PW Children's Bookshelf. And my agent wrote me that she'd started reading the novel I sent her last week and she had good things to say so far. (Of course, on page 151, the entire thing falls apart, but she's not there yet, so we'll just keep that to ourselves.)