In 2003 Paul Bahn led the team that discovered the first Ice Age cave art at Creswell Crags in Britain. In recent years, many more discoveries have been made including the expanding phenomenon of 'open-air Ice Age art'. In the slideshow below, you can see some of the earliest examples of art on the planet, and take a tour of prehistoric art throughout the world.

The post Art of the Ice Age [slideshow] appeared first on OUPblog.

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Title: Crop
Cost: Free, with $ 1 in-app purchase to remove ads and maintain aspect ratio
Platform: iOS

Sometimes an app is so simple, but works so well, it's hard to imagine how you would get along without it. For me, one of those is Crop by Green Mango Systems.

Whether it's focusing on the content of a screen-captured Instagram post or creating a quick thumbnail for an avatar, there are many occasions when you'll want to remove the bulk of an image or rotate it on the fly. You simply select the image, use the eight points of the image canvas to determine the size you want, and you can keep finessing things until you hit "Save." And unlike the crop option within the iOS photo roll, Crop saves your creation as a new file, so you don't loose the original.

In a digital photography workshop at our state edtech conference this summer, the presenter, Leslie Fisher, emphasized taking pictures from where you stood and cropping them instead of using the digital zoom feature in your device camera. She said that results in less degradation of the image quality. Crop is super-useful for anyone adopting that sort of digital photography workflow.

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Reference question of the day was about finding public domain images. Everyone’s got their go-tos. If I am looking for illustrations or old photos specifically I’ll often use other people’s searches on top of the Internet Archive’s content. Here’s a little how to.

1. Check the Internet Archive Book Images feed on Flickr. What I often do is search (which finds the words that surround the images) and then click straight through to the book (which is always linked in the metadata) and then fish around. For example…

• Search for cricket
  https://www.flickr.com/search/?user_id=126377022%40N07&view_all=1&text=cricket

“Oh this photo is interesting”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/14598293148/

“Here are all the photos from that book”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/tags/bookidwgcricketingremi00grac

Book is readable here
https://archive.org/stream/wgcricketingremi00grac/wgcricketingremi00grac#page/n253/mode/1up

Internet Archive page is here
https://archive.org/details/wgcricketingremi00grac

I’m more used to the Open Library interface which is a different front end on the same content for the most part, it’s here.
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22896607M/W.G._cricketing_reminiscences_and_personal_recollections.

More by Internet Archive on cricket or Open Library on cricket
https://archive.org/search.php?query=subject%3A%22Cricket%22
https://openlibrary.org/subjects/cricket

The trick, I’ve found, is to try to get as close to 1927 as possible because you’re likely to have the best illustrations and still be out of copyright. Older books don’t have good illustrations because the technology was not there yet. Enjoy!

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Sometimes people who license their digital content aren’t really thinking it through. They may have something else on their minds or copyright nuance may not be their thing. I think it behooves us copyright advocates and activists to (at least) politely try to push the envelope towards more open content licensing. Here’s the example I enjoyed from today.

This is interesting especially because Flickr uses Creative Commons licensing, but does not use CC-0 which is an intentional choice. Photos from cultural heritage organizations which are in the Flickr Commons have an additional “no known copyright restriction” option that is only available to specific accounts, not any Flickr user. There are many ways this specific issue can be resolved but just the fact that it’s generally a hurdle that has to be overcome indicates that there is still a good role for copyright reform advocates to play. More supporting links: Original article & SpaceX photos on Flickr.

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Winter encourages a certain kind of idiosyncratic imagery not found during any other season: white, powdery snow, puffs of warm breath, be-scarfed holiday crowds. The following slideshow presents a lovely compilation of quotes from the eighth edition of our Oxford Dictionary of Quotations that will inspire a newfound love for winter, whether you’ve ever experienced snow or not!

• 

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• 

• 

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• 

• 

Are there any other wintry quotes that you love? Let us know in the comments below.

Headline image credit: Winter bird. Photo by Mathias Erhart. CC BY-SA 2.0 via Flickr. All slideshow background images CC0/public domain via Pixabay or PublicDomainPictures.net (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10).

The post 10 quotes to inspire a love of winter appeared first on OUPblog.

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Imitate...life

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I recently finished reading the classic book "Wrinkle in Time" with my eight-year-old. It begins with the famous—and much maligned—line, "It was a dark and stormy night ..."

Writers look down on this opening phrase as being "obvious" and "too moody." It has been the butt of jokes from "Throw Momma from the Train" to Peanuts comics. But I'd like to write a brief defense of Madelaine L'Engle's linguistic choice as well as take a look at what makes descriptions work ... or not work.

L'Engle's phrase, at its most basic, does, indeed, set a tone for the book. And it describes the intensity that the character Meg feels. It also foreshadows the "dark"/sinister beings the characters will encounter, as well as the darkness through which the characters travel during their cross-planetary adventure. So I think that mentioning a "dark night" is thematic and relevant to L'Engle's whole book; she writes it as a fight between love and "the dark."

So what about the complaint that to describe night as dark is too obvious? I would argue that there are all kinds of nights. There are nights that seem like a faint orange hue hangs between the greenness of piled snow and heavy-set clouds. There are purple nights. There are also cold bright nights when the sky is clear and the moon shines like a shadeless pendant bulb.

And yes, there are stormy nights when the darkness seems to swallow up every detail out of reach, as though a cocoon of black velvet envelopes you: a dark and stormy night.

But these days, readers want more than that. We expect writers to paint with words in a more extraordinary way.

On the other hand, overly long or beatific descriptions are considered passé: Flip to almost any page in the classic "Anne of Green Gables" series and you'll find paragraphs of detail like: "a veritable apple-bearing tree, here in the very midst of pines and beeches ... all white with blossom. It's loaded [with apples]—tawny as russets but with a dusky red cheek. Most wild seedlings are green and uninviting."

While most of us still appreciate (and even love) L.M. Montgomery's lengthy stylistic descriptions for its time, these days such florid language is considered "purple prose."

Needless to say, descriptions can make or break even the best concepts and plots. Writers need not only to be gifted storytellers, but word makers and image creators of a new bent.

One author who excels in this is Mark Zusack. Consider some of these images from "The Book Thief":

• a short grin was smiled in Papa's spoon
• one [book] was delivered by a soft, yellow-dressed afternoon
• empty hat-stand trees
• the gun clipped a hole in the night
• the summer of '39 was in a hurry
• the smell of friendship
• [the] crackling sound ... was kinetic humans, flowing, charging up

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As I discovered in my kundalini experience, and as Asian medicine teaches, the human body is a great receptor and communicator of energy. According to Asian medicine, the total body’s energy field connects and communicates with all its parts to keep itself healthy. It seems to hold within it the overseeing intelligence that tells the pancreas to produce insulin, or lets us know to drink fluids when we are thirsty. What is implied is that each of the organs has an intelligence of its own that can communicate with other organs and parts of the body, and that there is a manager handling all this information.

Dream Images Give Us Pictures of our Energy

Intuitive healing basically uses the body’s capacity to receive and transfer energy through its energy field. The body’s five senses, memory, imagination and the so-called sixth sense, intuition, both hold and convey the energy in messages concerning the body, mind or spirit. Content presented in any of these ways through dream, prayer and intuitive meditation can be viewed as representing or symbolizing a piece of energy or information present in the body’s energy field. Thus, we can get a handle on what the body‘s energy field is telling us about our current health status, a possible diagnosis for an issue, or a potential healing treatment. For example, dream images may be symbols of healing energy in the body, or may symbolize the ailment itself. The same can be said about information coming directly or through symbols in intuitive meditation. This means that the body and its organs and all its parts can communicate with us on an energy level if we have the means to listen and be receptive! Being so interconnected means we can proactively request information and get a response on healing issues through dreams and intuitive insight. This truth has been known since ancient times and was used for hundreds of years in aesclepions, the dream healing centers of Greece.

Our Task is to Learn from the Body and Its Energy Field

However, to connect with our intuitive healing capabilities, it helps to know a something about: 1) how this information gets expressed in dreams and intuitive meditation and 2) how energy works in the body. Our task becomes, then, essentially learning from the body and its energy field to teach us how to heal and stay healthy. In a sense, all of us are already doing this when we listen to the needs of our body such as getting some sleep when we feel tired. This self-care can be done on a much more effective and systematic level by doing ongoing dreamwork. Dreamwork focusing on health is about intentionally learning to tune into the needs of our body, emotions and spirit through energy that gets expressed and symbolized in a variety of ways in dreams, intuitive insight and prayer.

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A large part of your content marketing strategy should be blogging.  Marketing studies found that people trust bloggers more than companies, including social media sites, such as Facebook. This gives bloggers a great platform to inform, engage, and sell. It gives bloggers influence. Along with influence, blogging has five primary benefits: 1. If your content is ‘quality,’ it will catch the

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In Part One of 7 Elements of an Effective Landing Page Designed to Increase Your Mailing I covered elements one (A Specific Opt-in Landing Page) and two (The Sign-up ). In Part Two, elements three (Convey the Benefit) and four (Your Ethical Bribe - The Free Gift) were discussed.

Now on to elements five, six, and seven:

5. Clarity

Putting it all together, clarity rules. Your opt-in page should be an easy read and easy to understand. And, it should answer all potential questions.

In addition, the sign-up wording you use should be visible and near the top of the page. And, what you’re offering, including the benefits and freebie, needs to be clearly stated. Bullet points are a good way to give the visitor a quick look at all your offering.

If a visitor has to guess or search for what you’re offering, or wonders what you’re about, you’ve lost that subscriber.

6. Images

Images are an important element to a website and landing page. I’m sure you’ve heard it before, people are becoming more and more ‘visual.’ This means images are a needed component of your opt-in page. But, the image MUST be relevant to what you’re offering. The visitor needs to be able to quickly make the connection, otherwise it may be distracting.

Along with this, you need to keep your landing page simple, clear, and easy to navigate. This means don’t clutter it with too many images.

Having your picture, along with your logo, or other relevant image should be sufficient.

The purpose of having your picture on the landing page is that people connect with people. The feel reassured when they see an actual person – it helps foster trust.

7. The Mailing List

You might have heard that only 1% of first time visitors will buy a product.

The first reason for this is because first time visitors don’t know you, which means they don’t trust you. Why should they buy from you?

The second reason is that during an initial visit, your visitor may not have the time to spend browsing your site for information that will entice him to make the decision to purchase your book or product.

This is where your specific opt-in page and sign-up text comes in. It gives the visitor a quick and easy decision-making nudge. If conveys the benefits and highlights the valuable free gift the visitor will get for taking action. With everything in place, including a clear call-to-action, you’ve made the visitor’s sign-up decision even easier.

The mailing list is your connection and opportunity to develop an ongoing relationship with the subscriber. It’s this relationship that will convert your reader into a customer or client.

If you haven't read Parts 1 and 2 yet, go to:


~~~~~

RECOMMENDED RESOURCE:

Speedy Web Video

Video marketing is one of the most effective conversion tools. Speedy Web Videos is an ecourse that teaches you, with step-by-step instructions, to create your own videos. Check it out!


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MORE ONLINE MARKETING


Beyond Book Sales Income: Book Marketing and Diversification
Creating Content: 10 Online Repurposing Formats
4 Simple Steps to Web Videos That Sell

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Karen Cioffi

Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Online Marketer, Affiliate Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012

Karen Cioffi Professional Writing Services
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Author Online Presence and Book Marketing Ecourse:
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Jolyon Mitchell

It was agonizing, just a few weeks before publication of Martyrdom: A Very Short Introduction, to discover that there was a minor mistake in one of the captions. Especially frustrating, as it was too late to make the necessary correction to the first print run, though it will be repaired when the book is reprinted. New research had revealed the original mistake. The inaccuracy we had been given had circulated the web and had been published by numerous press agencies and journalists too. What precisely was wrong?

To answer this question it is necessary to go back to Iran. During one of the demonstrations in Tehran following the contested re-election of President Ahmadinejad in 2009, a young woman (Neda Agha-Soltan) stepped out of the car for some fresh air. A few moments later she was shot. As she lay on the ground dying her last moments were captured on film. These graphic pictures were then posted online. Within a few days these images had gone global. Soon demonstrators were using her blood-spattered face on posters protesting against the Iranian regime. Even though she had not intended to be a martyr, her death was turned into a martyrdom in Iran and around the world.

Many reports also placed another photo, purportedly of her looking healthy and flourishing, alongside the one of her bloodied face. It turns out that this was not actually her face but an image taken from the Facebook page of another Iranian with a similar name, Neda Soltani. This woman is still alive, but being incorrectly identified as the martyr has radically changed her life. She later described on BBC World Service (Outlook, 2 October 2012) and on BBC Radio 4 (Woman’s Hour, 22 October 2012) how she received hate mail and pressure from the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence to support the claim that the other Neda was never killed. The visual error made it almost impossible for Soltani to stay in her home country. She fled Iran and was recently granted asylum in Germany. Neda Soltani has even written a book, entitled My Stolen Face, about her experience of being mistaken for a martyr.

The caption should therefore read something like: ‘A protestor holds a picture of a blood spattered Neda Agha-Soltan and another of a woman, Neda Soltani, who was widely misidentified as Neda Agha-Soltan.’ This mistake underlines how significant the role is of those who are left behind after a death. Martyrs are made. They are rarely, if ever, born. Communities remember, preserve, and elaborate upon fatal stories, sometimes turning them into martyrdoms. Neda’s actual death was commonly contested. Some members of the Iranian government described it as the result of a foreign conspiracy, while many others saw her as an innocent martyr. For these protestors she represents the tip of an iceberg of individuals who have recently lost their lives, their freedom, or their relatives in Iran. As such her death became the symbol of a wider protest movement.

This was also the case in several North African countries during the so-called Arab Spring. In Tunisia, in Algeria, and in Egypt the death of an individual was put to use soon after their passing. This is by no means a new phenomenon. Ancient, medieval, and early modern martyrdom stories are still retold, even if they were not captured on film. Tales of martyrdom have been regularly reiterated and amplified through a wide range of media. Woodcuts of martyrdoms from the sixteenth century, gruesome paintings from the seventeenth or eighteenth centuries, photographs of executions from the nineteenth century, and fictional or documentary films from the twentieth century all contribute to the making of martyrs. Inevitably, martyrdom stories are elaborated upon. Like a shipwreck at the bottom of the ocean, they collect barnacles of additional detail. These details may be rooted in history,unintentional mistakes, or simply fictional leaps of the imagination. There is an ongoing debate, for example, around Neda’s life and death. Was she a protestor? How old was she when she died? Who killed her? Was she a martyr?

Martyrdoms commonly attract controversy. One person’s ‘martyr’ is another person’s ‘accidental death’ or ‘suicide bomber’ or ‘terrorist’. One community’s ‘heroic saint’ who died a martyr’s death is another’s ‘pseudo-martyr’ who wasted their life for a false set of beliefs. Martyrs can become the subject of political debate as well as religious devotion. The remains of a well-known martyr can be viewed as holy or in some way sacred. At least one Russian czar, two English kings, and a French monarch have all been described after their death as martyrs.

Neda was neither royalty nor politician. She had a relatively ordinary life, but an extraordinary death. Neda is like so many other individuals who are turned into martyrs: it is by their demise that they are often remembered. In this way even the most ordinary individual can become a martyr to the living after their deaths. Preserving their memory becomes a communal practice, taking place on canvas, in stone, and most recently online. Interpretations, elaborations, and mistakes commonly cluster around martyrdom narratives. These memories can be used both to incite violence and to promote peace. How martyrs are made, remembered, and then used remains the responsibility of the living.

Jolyon Mitchell is Professor of Communications, Arts and Religion, Director of the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI) and Deputy Director of the Institute for the Advanced Study in the Humanities (IASH) at the University of Edinburgh. He is author and editor of a wide range of books including most recently: Promoting Peace, Inciting Violence: The Role of Religion and Media (2012); and Martyrdom: A Very Short Introduction (2012).

The Very Short Introductions (VSI) series combines a small format with authoritative analysis and big ideas for hundreds of topic areas. Written by our expert authors, these books can change the way you think about the things that interest you and are the perfect introduction to subjects you previously knew nothing about. Grow your knowledge with OUPblog and the VSI series every Friday!

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Image credit: A protestor holds a picture of a blood spattered Neda Agha-Soltan and another of a woman, Neda Soltani, who was widely misidentified as Neda Agha-Soltan, used in full page context of p.49, Martyrdom: A Very Short Introduction, by Jolyon Mitchell. Image courtesy of Getty Images.

The post Making and mistaking martyrs appeared first on OUPblog.

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It's guest post Wednesday, and I have another great post for you. It's about the combination of text and images, adding comprehension and enhancing the message, as this post's image conveys.

Text and Images -- The Perfect Combination

By Rob Toledo

Imagine this: in your search for a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe, you click on a link that looks promising only to find a wall of text. There’s no photo to showcase those oozing chocolate chips, and there are all kinds of text-rich asides on topics you have no time for, like where chocolate comes from and how margarine and butter fundamentally differ.

Sound familiar? If you’ve ever loaded a site from the Internet’s infancy when designers took the term “database” a little too literally, you’ll know just what I mean. And yet, websites that rely too much on imagery can be just as difficult and unappealing to navigate. We’re looking at you, restaurants that bury your menu beneath five layers of graphics.

 So, what’s the answer? Balance and a little forethought.

Understand text, imagery and their primary talents.

First and foremost, it’s important to understand what both text and images can do. Text can frame a conversation, whether it’s through a catchy headline, a witty caption or an opening sentence that (e.g. warning, high school English term coming) is a road map to the rest of an article. Once readers are hooked, text helps a writer dig into an issue, clearly spell out necessary action steps, and expand upon a confusing point. What’s more, text is more search engine friendly than images, easier to change and store in a database, and easier on coders.

At the same time, the right image can also frame a conversation, especially when it evokes a clear emotion. It can break up blocks of text making content more fun to consume and easier to process, while also illustrating points, so they’re more concrete and memorable.

But, more than anything, where images really beat text is in branding and in basic site navigation. No one is going to remember a mission statement as well as they’ll recall a top-notch logo; nor will they return to a site that’s organized like a bulleted list with no attention paid to basic visual logic.

Know the downsides.

Flashy images and bright colors do nothing to capture a user’s interest or to increase conversions if there’s no compelling content beneath the flare (cough MySpace cough). And no one will bother scrolling to the bottom of a text-rich site if they’ve fallen asleep on their keyboard. Even those users who force themselves through either type of site will have a great deal of difficulty in piecing information together. The result: aggravation; anger; no conversions.

Know the content. Know the user.
Finding balance for a site doesn’t necessarily mean breaking even. In fact, it’s fine to lean more heavily on one than the other, just as long as that balance is calibrated to the user, the content, the tone, and the intent of all three.

As an example, take a look at Pinterest. Here, images are employed as a tool both for visual organization and as a means of capturing instant interest. Yet, the site never fails to be neat, crisp and clean, and elucidating text is just a picture click away.

Contrast this to Wikipedia users, who generally have already had their interest piqued through concepts or subjects they’ve stumbled on elsewhere or within other Wikipedia pages. They arrive not looking to be tantalized, but to get the content they need. They want no-nonsense images that are directly relevant. If either one of these sites was to strike the image-text balance in the manner of the other, they’d get in the way of their own content and lose their users.

Go professional.

Whether it’s a blurred photo or a string of typos, there are few things less appealing than amateurish content and imagery. If you’re updating your site regularly and don’t have enough visual content of your own, both stock photography and stock footage are a must. They’re relatively inexpensive and allow for a range of creative options. It’s far better to choose a single captivating professional shot than to rely on a photo or video that looks homemade.

Above all, your choices should be about communication.

No matter how visually appealing or information-rich a site may be, if the user can’t understand what the site is trying to say, it’s not doing its job. Don’t write your users a novel, but don’t go for the images unless you’re absolutely sure text can’t get the job done. The key to balance is experimentation. Try it one way, try it another, and keep on tweaking until images and text are working hand in hand to communicate your intended message. That, after all, is what a website is meant to do.

Rob Toledo is a designer, writer and dog lover. He lives in the pacific northwest and can be reached on Twitter @stentontoledo

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 Robert Earle Howells has been a successful freelancer for 30 years. He writes for top national magazines and websites. And, now he’s written WRITE WHERE THE MONEY IS

It's an inside-the-biz guide that steers you clear of the shark-infested waters that gobble up and spit out most wannabe writers. Howells shows you the shortcuts to earning good money quickly. His hard-learned secrets and stealth tactics will save you a ton of pain and frustration.

 ~~~~~~~~~~

More Reading

Freelance Writing Work: The Possibilities
Creating Images – Simple and Quick
Using Video for Marketing

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Karen Cioffi
Multi-award Winning Author, Freelance/Ghostwriter, Editor, Marketer
Writer’s Digest Website of the Week, June 25, 2012

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I have a Voya article out this month! The online version can be found here; turn to page 28.

Have you registered yet for JCLC? The 2^nd annual conference will be held in Kansas City, MO from 19-23 September.

JCLC brings together a diverse group of librarians, library staff, library supporters, and community participants to explore issues of diversity in libraries and how they affect the ethnic communities who use our services. JCLC is a unique and unparalleled opportunity for participants to share successes, opportunities, and challenges while networking and attending cutting-edge programs on pressing issues affecting both librarians and communities of color. The conference includes speakers, skills building workshops, research based panels, networking opportunities and exhibits. In addition, JCLC deepens connections across constituencies and beyond, and unifies and strengthens the voices of each association.

Why is it no longer possible to change font color on WordPress?

From Sociological Images, an eye-opening look at how the world is shown to us.

Gecko Press  is a New Zealand Press that translates international books from many different countries into English. A really interesting selection of books from a range of genres and cultures.  Their site says that some of their books are distributed by Lerner in the U.S.   http://www.geckopress.co.nz/

Indian Converts Collection  First published in 1727, the remarkable book “Indian Converts, or Some account of the lives and dying speeches of a considerable number of the Christianized Indians of Martha’s Vineyard” is now available in full online. Written by Experience Mayhew, the book provides remarkable insights into the lives and culture of four generations of Native Americans in colonial America. This digitized version was created at Reed College, and visitors can look through all four sections of the work, which include “Indian Ministers” and “Pious Children.” Throughout the work, Mayhew details the books that different age groups were reading, provides insights into early New England pedagogy and childrearing practices, and also describes each individual in terms of their own genealogy and personal history. The truly fantastic thing about the site is that it also contains an archive with over 600 images and documents that further contextualize the work. Also, the site contains study guides designed for classroom use that cover artifact analysis, genealogy, and reading gravestones (from AIALA)

 Jamie Campbell Naidoo writes about using the many wonderful Pura Belpre Award winners in your library programming.

“Established in 1996 by the National Association to Promote Library and Information Services to Latinos and the Spanish Speaking (REFORMA) and the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), the Pura Belpré Award recognizes Latino authors and illustrators “whose work best portrays, affirms, and celebrates the Latino cultural experience in an outstanding work of literature for children and youth.” The award’s namesake, the first Puerto Rican librarian in the New York Public Library system, was dedicated to bringing rich

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Nope, Forts isn't gong to be made into a movie anytime soon. Sure, it would be nice, but it isn't very likely.

Damn Hollywood fatcats!

With the help of a little extra time though, google images, and my handy photoshop skills, I put together a poster anyway.



I'd pay seven bucks for that.

Steven

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Create Vivid Images to Bring a Novel to Life

“Vivid imagery makes a story world come alive,” says Stacy Whitman, Associate Editor at Wizards of the Coast (Update March, 2010: Whitman is now editorial director of the Tu Books imprint at Lee & Low.) Everyone agrees that a writer’s ability to create an image in a reader’s head through their words is integral to fiction and effective novels. When writers and editors push toward imagery vivid enough to transport readers to new worlds, there are many options.

A book Whitman has edited is In the Serpent’s Coils: Hallomere (Wizards of the Coast, 2007), by Tiffany Trent, the first of a ten-book dark-fantasy novel series called Hallomere. (Update: Wizards of the Coast is no longer publishing stand alone fantasy novels and this series is out of print, only available from used book sources.) The series features six girls from around the world who are drawn together to rescue their missing schoolmates and prevent catastrophe in an epic battle between dark fey (or supernatural) worlds and the mortal world.

Vivid nature imagery sets mood. Whitman describes this short scene as having vivid nature imagery that sets a dreamy, magical tone for the novel, while emphasizing the Fey’s connection to nature:

But then she saw a dark shimmer by the hemlocks again. The tall man turned, as though he felt her gaze. He wore shadows deeper than twilight, and, as before, she couldn’t see his face. But she felt his gaze, felt it through the swift gasp of her heart, the seizure in her knees. The Captain raised his hand to her, and she saw, despite the dusk, that his hand was shiny and scarlet, as though wet with blood.

Stark, direct description sets mood. Alan Gratz creates a different sort of mood in his award winning book, The Samurai Shortshop (Dial Books, 2006), through what he describes as stark and direct description. In one of the most emotional openings of a story in young adult literature, Toyo helps his Uncle Koji perform the Japanese ritual suicide, seppuku.

Now Toyo sat in the damp grass outside the shrine as his uncle moved to the center of the mats. Uncle Koji’s face was a mask of calm. He wore a ceremonial white kimono with brilliant red wings–the wings he usually wore only into battle. He was clean-shaven and recently bathed, and he wore his hair in a tight topknot like the samurai of old. Uncle Koji knelt on the tatami mats keeping his hands on his hips and his arms akimbo.

Both Gratz and Trent are paying particular

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The new ImageS collection by Jim Vadeboncoeur arrived the other day. It's the fifth special collecting black and white art work and it is amazing. I highly recommend all of these collection, some of the most beautiful art I've ever seen..

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***********************
Currently re-reading:

The Aurora County All-Stars
by Deborah Wiles

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You know how every so often I run across a rare batch of Romanov family photos I've never seen and go berserk? It's just as good when it happens in my own family. Behold, from the back of Grandma's closet:

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Once upon a time, I shelved books five nights a week at the little library down the street. Down in the children's room where I spent most of my time, there was a book called Jon O.: A Special Boy. I'm not sure why its spine ever caught my eye, except that it was so euphemistic and dated. And also, so rarely checked out that it was something of a landmark on the shelves -- to the extent that I remember my co-worker, Alisha, making a Vanna White-style presentation of shelving it one day.
"You painted Jon O!" I gushed to Alisha the next time I saw her at work.

"You saw him!"

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Two techinical hints:
1. Make sure you've got MS Silverlight installed.

2. When you get to the Russian sites, click on the red text next to this little icon to actually see the photos:

(That's "foto" in Russian. It's on the lower left of the screen, and if you're lucky, it might even be in English.)

Then sit back and bask in the wonderment. I was up until nearly 3 am the other night...

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"This collection of testimonials of early Xicanistas and their work in teatro is an important contribution to the preservation of the spirit and energy that made the Chicano Movement."

—Ana Castillo, author of The Guardians and So Far from God

"These memoirs are the personal, honest, and riveting testimonials of seventeen Chicanas who performed Chicana theater during the 1970s. These carnalas empowered themselves and thousands during the tumultuous years of the Movimiento by performing plays for working-class communities. From college campuses to the fields where campesinos toiled, estas mujeres had the courage to fight gender inequality. We need their courage today. And we need their stories for a new generation of Chicanas and for working women everywhere."

—Rudolfo Anaya, author of Bless Me, Ultima and Curse of the ChupaCabra

"'Órale, ya era tiempo.' Stories of 'the Movement' too often emphasize men's roles, ignoring the vital participation of women or relegating them to the sidelines. In Teatro Chicana, women are central to the ideas, emotions, strategies, writing, art, and music of the 1960s and 1970s when this country—and much of the world—rocked with revolutionary imagination and fervor. The Chicano Movement, like most social movements, also had many women warrior/leaders—this struggle was shaped and ignited by women, fed and nurtured by women, with many men at their sides. I was part of this—I knew first hand how feminine spirit, energy, and love embraced and impelled us. Seeing it again through the voices of the elder-teachers in this book, I'm reminded—no movement is complete without la mujer."

—Luis J. Rodriguez, author of Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. and Hearts and Hands: Creating Community in Violent Times


The 1970s and 1980s saw the awakening of social awareness and political activism in Mexican-American communities. In San Diego, a group of Chicana women participated in a political theatre group whose plays addressed social, gender, and political issues of the working class and the Chicano Movement. In this collective memoir, seventeen women who were a part of Teatro de las Chicanas (later known as Teatro Laboral and Teatro Raíces) come together to share why they joined the theatre and how it transformed their lives. Teatro Chicana tells the story of this troupe through chapters featuring the history and present-day story of each of the main actors and writers, as well as excerpts from the group's materials and seven of their original short scripts.




Edited by:

Laura E. Garcia is the editor of the Tribuno del Pueblo newspaper, a bilingual publication that gives voice to the poor and to those fighting unjust laws, such as those that make the undocumented immigrant an animal of prey. She lives in Chicago.

Sandra M. Gutierrez is a lifelong community activist who has advocated for immigrant rights, unionization, youth counseling, and cultural diversity. She lives in Pasadena, California.

Felicitas Nuñez was a co-founder of the Teatro de las Chicanas and continues to be a driving force behind the organization. She lives in Bermuda Dunes, California.

FILM IN THE PARK at Dusk

A program for the entire family, free of charge!

Elsa y Fred (Argentina/Spain)

Save $5 at any Friday performance! Use promo code "5off" to save $5 per ticket at any Friday performance July 12 through August 10. (Discount subject to availability. No exchanges or substitutions. Limit: 8 tickets per order.)

Call (312) 443-3800 or Groups of 10 or more call 877.4.GRP.TIX

Suggested for everyone age 8 and older

Esperanza Rising is the story of a wealthy Mexican girl whose privileged existence is shattered when tragedy strikes, and she and her mother must flee to California. Forced to work in a migrant labor camp, Esperanza must learn to rise above her difficult circumstances and discover what she's truly made of. Set in the turbulent 1930's, and based on the popular book by Pam Muñoz Ryan, Esperanza Rising is a poetic tale of a young girl's triumph over adversity.

Henry Godinez

Director Henry Godinez, a Chicago Children's Theatre Artistic Associate, directed our Inaugural Production of A Year With Frog and Toad. Henry is the Resident Artistic Associate at the Goodman Theatre, where curates their biennial Latino Theatre Festival and directed six seasons of A Christmas Carol. He serves as Artistic Director of Northwestern University's Theatre and Interpretation Center, and is the co-founder and former Artistic Director of Teatro Vista.



POLINESIA: mujer policía que no entiende razones.

CAMARON: aparato enorme que saca fotos.

DECIMAL: pronunciar equivocadamente.

BECERRO: observar una loma o colina.

BERMUDAS: observa a las que no hablan..

TELEPATIA: aparato de TV para la hermana de mi mamá.

ANOMALO: hemorroides.

BENCENO: lo que los bebés miran con los ojos cuando toman leche.

CHINCHILLA: auchenchia de un lugar para chentarche.

DIADEMAS: veintinueve de febrero.

DILEMAS: hablale más.

DIOGENES: la embarazó.

ELECCION:
lo que expelimenta un oliental al vel una película polno.

ENDOSCOPIO: me preparo para todos los exámenes excepto por dos.

MANIFIESTA: juerga de cacahuates.

MEOLLO:
me escucho.

ONDEANDO: sinónimo de ondestoy.

TALENTO:
no está tan rápido.

NITRATO: frustración superada.

REPARTO: trillizos.

REPUBLICA: mujerzuela sumamente conocida..

SILLON: respuesta afirmativa de Yoko Ono a Lennon..

SORPRENDIDA: monja corrupta y muy dispuesta...

ZARAGOZA : bien por Sarita!!!!!!


Lisa Alvarado

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Today I was randomly looking for chamber of commerce signs online. You know--the decal ones that people used to put on their storefront windows. Maybe they still do. But they aren't taking photos of them...at least from my 2 minute search. But what did come up was interesting--the Google Image Labeler.
It's basically a game that you can play, to tag images with a random other person who happens to be online. You get points for all your tags. I don't know what you do with your points...maybe redeem in the Google merchandise store?

This Image Labeler game, plus the article in the NYTimes about the Automated Image search, makes me think that Google has the hots for images right now.

Of course, the two efforts are probably not related at all, except by proximity in my own mind...the automated image search is geared for products. The labeler might be for something else entirely. And they're going about it completely different ways.

Distributed cataloging, anyone? Maybe we should add some gaming aspects to Connexion for all the Gen Y'ers coming up through the ranks.

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My dog Rosie wishes everybody the best of holidays and adds, "There's nothing like a rubber chew toy."  Her cap is fashioned from a shredded pair of thrift-store pantyhose.

M. McGrorty

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To all my friends and those out in cyberland whom I have not met, a holiday greeting.  This is my 2007 card, which in the spirit of the times is constructed entirely of recycled materials obtained from the thrift store.  This is an advent calendar for people of all faiths or none.  Every day you can slide open one of the little compartments and receive a dose of happiness.  The box is constructed of a medication box; the contents, obviously, are old buttons.  Some of them are quite old:  you've got genuine mother-of-pearl, celluloid, wood and metal items there.  Best of the season to you, and remember to save your buttons.

Michael McGrorty

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