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"Wow, Damien, you've truly outgayed yourself."--Mean Girls

OK, who is it? Some guidance needed for the wistful outsiders.

Neil Gaiman, true rock star writer, and Roger, beloved sardonic snarky and wise editor.

9:28 PM,

It's a Gaiman and a gay man.

Bwahahahahahaha!

Rather stunning, I'd say.

I remember when Neil spoke at CLNE and said something like "oh dear, these people are really bright" like he had very low expectations of the children's literature crowd. I hope he's permanently adjusted his expectations.

So glad the musical theatre references have made a comeback :)

Betty t,

Having worked with Neil on his children's books for a decade, I feel certain that he didn't arrive at CLNE with low expectations. Shift the emphasis to "really" and you may have a more accurate picture of Neil's estimation of people who work in children's literature. In other words, his colleagues in other media, they're bright, too, but "these people are *really* bright."

I was at that CLNE and remember it more like Betty did. But it's a fairly common reaction from intelligent authors who are new to the field of children's literature and who are speaking at CLNE for the first time, especially if they have to follow a speaker like Sarah Ellis, or have just eaten lunch in the cafeteria, seated at a table with Jill Paton Walsh, Barbara Harrison, and Greg Maguire.

and did you get any signed comicbooks for your little brother? Noooo.

You are too young to be a grandpa!! Congratulations! Hugs to Ricardo!!

A new reader! Welcome, Miles. : )

OH. Thanks. He is dear.
I still wonder what he will call you: PeePaw, Grampy, Big Poppa, Opa...

Grandparents' Day at our school brings the list of funny grandparent names and I wish you could have one of my favorites: Elizabeth and Katie's grandmother was called "Hankie Pankie." The best.

Robin Smith

What a cutie! Congratulations!

What a sweet little man. Congratulations!

He looks just like you! Oh, wait...
(What a civilized time to give birth, by the way.)

Aww! Congrats! Much good health and happiness.

You will LOVE being a grandfather. So many books to read to an ardent listener.

Aw - what a sweetie. Congrats, Grandpa :)

Congratulations!

How wonderful! Congratulations all around.

He's absolutely gorgeous! Such a shana punim. Congratulations. Enjoy.
Irene

Welcome to the world! Congratulations.

What a sweet little baby -- let him stay up all night!

I've read that pink for girls is a fairly recent construct; and that pink for boys was traditional during the late 1800s/early 1900s.

Google it; there are some interesting articles--not sure how authoritative they are.

Can't speak to the research about this, but I can say after going to the circus the other day, where there were these "magic wand" things that lit up and spun around when you pushed a button (ideal for preschoolers wanting to annoy their parents in the car), the ONLY one he wanted was the pink one, with feathers, and sparkly stars. He did NOT want the blue one, with the elephant on it.

Of course we bought him the pink one.
--DF

What strikes me most about these photographs is not the quality (color) of the "things" (though the plethora of pink is quite striking) but the sheer QUANTITY. I am left wondering how quality and quantity are interconnected.

If a similar photo shoot was done with children whose families actively avoid/deny gender construct would the QUANTITY of possessions in each picture be noticeably different? Or not?

Does buying into or enforcing a gendered color code always go hand-in-hand with rampant materialism? (When my sister was younger she loved the color yellow... but I don't recall her half of our room looking like Big Bird threw up in there...)

I don't know how to move a comment from one post to another but Douglas Florian says . . .

Hi Roger,
Thinking of pink...
see my recent (Nov.24th) blog entry about boys and pink and publishing:
http://floriancafe.blogspot.com/
Thanks
douglas florian

Thank you so much for bringing this exhibit to my attention. I can't wait to go see it.

Going to read Douglas Florian's blog entry now.

My post about Jeongmee Yoon will be coming soon.

Thanks again.

Leah Klein
Gender examiner

http://www.examiner.com/x-1996-Gender-Examiner~y2008m12d6-Holiday-gifts--Best-choices-for-childrens-books

Love dino roars! And my little princess loving 5-yr-old loves it too (as long as she gets to do all the Roars).

The scary thing is, Roger, since we're only a few years apart, I COULD have had grandchildren myself.... but I am only still a mom of a fairly young child. (Still feeling like a new mother... is 10 years a long time?)

can't escape commercials - even on HB. do you get a fee for advertising you tube?

This is great--helps with the slow transition from reading political blogs all day to doing productive work.

I'm afraid I don't understand. Are the puppies an advertisement for something?

I am such a witch. I watched this for a while waiting for one to jump up and do something. Say, dance or eat the others. Or maybe break into song.

I guess being cute isn't enough for me.

Is this a live feed? The one in the blue collar just slept as far as I could see! (All very cute, though, with their curly tails.)

Yesterday I thought the one in blue was dead, but he twitched after a while and today he is at the other end of the crate. They are too cute! Roger, are you getting the blue one? Where did you find this anyway? How can that bed be so white? I'm guessing it is a live feed?

It is a live feed--sometimes it's down but you can watch a slideshow or recorded segments. I think I saw it on Gawker.com.

They take turns being bossy, although this morning the mother came into the crate and the little buggers were all over each other trying to latch onto a nipple.

I put this up on my classroom's Smartboard this afternoon while my kids worked on their mural for The Graveyard Book. Quite a contrast!

Well, I WAS going to watch the divine Simon Schama's History of Britain tonight, but I think I might just watch puppies. I might need another computer just so I can keep this on all the time.

My husband watches a hencam. I'll offer him this.

Now how am I going to finish grading??

JMC