Hedgehog Librarian: Prickly, Nocturnal, InfoDiva

Book Review: 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 15:30:00 +0000

10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can't Because He Needs the Job)
Rev. Oliver "Buzz" Thomas

I picked this one up on a whim, stumbling across it somewhere now long forgotten. It's short, pointed, and thoughtful and written in an approachable tone.

Thomas addresses ten familiar points/questions that are items we often see brought up in the news, from pulpits, and hotly contested among Christians.

1. How did it all begin?
2. Why are we here?
3. What is the Bible?
4. Is there really such a thing as a miracle?
5. How do I please God?
6. What about women?
7. What about homosexuality?
8. What about other faiths?
9. What happens after we die?
10. How will it all end?

Each question is thoughtfully explored, given some historical context and, where he can, Thomas points to translation of the Greek texts as we have them. (BTW--there's the new "oldest Bible" online--if the hits haven't crashed the server again) It's practically written to--not attempting to revolutionize one's opinions but answer, in the friendly pastoral way, questions that you might have.

I was intrigued by some of the points made and wish Thomas had included a) footnotes and b) a reading list. I think this will spark discussion and could spark research interest. Certainly it'd be nice to know where he got some of his information. An interesting read.

Where Will the Hedgehog Be?: The ALA 2009 Edition

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 05:40:00 +0000

I'm in Chicago for the ALA Annual Conference and Unconference and the seeing of AudioGirl...well, I'm crashing at her place anyways....

The tentative schedule:

FRIDAY:

ALA Unconference (9 a.m.-5 p.m.) **Lead Discussion from 3:20-4:10 on Libraries and Young "Adults" (not teens)
LITA Happy Hour (5:30-8 p.m.): Potter's Lounge Palmer House Hilton

SATURDAY

8:00-10:00 a.m.
Technology and the Developing World
(MPW W-179)

10:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Literacy Leadership (I wanna see Laurie Halse Anderson)
(MPW W-184)

1:30-3 p.m.
Either
Ultimate Debate: Has Library 2.0 Fulfilled It's Promise
(MPW W-181)

or

Life After 2.0
(MPW W-190b)

3:30-5:30 p.m.
Love is in the Air
(MPW W-194a)

6 p.m.--whenever
Library Society of the World Meetup
Giordano's on Jackson

SUNDAY:

7:30- 9:00 a.m.
Scholastic Library Publishing Breakfast
Shertaon Chicago Hotel Ballrooms

10:30-12 p.m.
LITA Program Planning Meeting
Palmer House: La Salle 2

12:00 - 5 p.m.
Exhibits with the Incredibly-Patient-Mother

I am best reached by cell phone...interwebs will be sporadic this weekend. Catch me if you can!!!

Hedgehog Crossing

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 21:01:00 +0000

No...not my ALA schedule yet. I'm working on that. This is courtesy of Laura B :)

Mixed Management...

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:26:00 +0000

Jenica has a very thoughtful post about management, and the general attitude of library professionals towards management and managers. The attitude is skepticism, fear, mistrust, anger, and general frustration and she makes some excellent points about the comments that have been made to her since taking on a directorship for one of the SUNY schools.

The comment that best struck me was the "don't forget where you came from." Her answer is somewhat indignant and rightly so. And while I don't expect her to overnight turn into someone completely incapable of remember how to answer a reference question, it pointed out something that I have witnessed with managers and educators within the library profession. When moving into management or education, it seems to become beneath many to actually perform the everyday tasks called upon by the majority of your staff or students.

I have had the unfortunate experience of watching a reference librarian I respected advance to the directorship of a library. The power went to her head and I've watched her not only find the work of the library beneath her, including the work that falls into her job responsibilities, but also run off the good people who worked for her. It's become a toxic environment where the focus seems to have become building her legacy, as it certainly doesn't seem to be patrons, materials, staff or anything else. I've met managers who were firmly of the belief they should only ever work bank hours and certainly never on a public service desk (not because they were needed elsewhere--but because it was beneath them, keep that in mind). But then, I worked for a system that adamantly argued that I as a professional wasn't to shelve but conversely the pages who only shelved weren't allowed to do a "shelf check" for an item for someone from another location. If that isn't convoluted and setting people up with a "beneath me" mindset, I'm not sure what is...

And then there's the story that hit a week ago from Tulsa--where the Library CEO has had her position restructured so that she has no day-to-day responsibilities in the building and gets to work from home two days a week--with the same pay. They say it's having an effect on employee morale. Without day to day responsibilities in the building, or even having a presence in the space, it's rather unclear how the CEO is planning on staying aware of what is going on and what the needs of her staff are.

But for the ones that scare me to pieces, there are managers I have to point out my admiration for.

At present, I have the pleasure of working both with Madame Storyteller and Madame Director--neither of whom despite their lofty titles and extended experience--find shelving and checking out books beneath them. Granted, shelving isn't the everyday task of these two women, who have a lot of other things on their plate, but Madame Director takes a shift on the circulation desk nearly every week. It's one of the best places to catch her when I need something signed, because for those two hours, I can guarantee she'll be pretty much in one spot. But it also shows to our aides and the other managers that she values that work just as highly as any other professional work, and it's noticed and appreciated.

And there is a branch manager at CPL that I would have stayed for, had they let me work for her. She has the management of a west side branch and works, works with and for her staff, and is pretty awesome. As a result, people really want to work at her branch.

We do need a shift in our view of management, on that I agree with Jenica. But we need to find a way to highlight the managers who are doing it right, doing it well, and training other good leaders--as opposed to those who are most concerned with getting things out of it only for themselves, such as those banking hours and relief from the ref desk. Myself, though management wasn't my initial goal on entering the field, I see it as somewhere I'd like to go. I've managed people before and it's one of the few promotional paths available to me. I just have to remember what the Incredibly Patient Mother taught me about management long ago: one leads by example and a good manager won't ask you to do something he or she won't do*.

*with the caveat of course for things one physically can't do or don't have the appropriate training to do

Book Review: Graceling

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:30:00 +0000

Graceling
Kristin Cashore

I kept hearing that this book was good. And it duly followed me home and sat in my library basket. And sat. And sat. Finally, when TeenLibrarian said "super awesome must read!" I cracked the cover.

In the kingdoms people are born with Graces, which come apparent when their eyes change to be two different colors, usually during childhood. Some Graces are very helpful (healing horses), some worrying (mind reading) and some odd (climbing trees). Those that are useful are put into the service of the King, others are left with their family, outsiders not fully accepted because of their difference.

And among the Graced is Katsa, who has the Grace of killing. Now required by the King, her uncle, to be his enforcer, Katsa is not especially pleased with her role in life. When she meets another Graced fighter, though, life takes an unexpected change. There are battles, cruelty, survival tests, love, and murder.

It's one of the best written books I've read in quite a while. There's a lyrical epic-poem quality to the writing, you're easily absorbed into the story and the emotions of the characters. You feel for Katsa, a young woman required by her king to kill or maim despite she often sees that the king's actions are wrong. Supporting characters are well defined, allowing for loving family relationships, new friends, and realistic insights into how even good people at times have only their own best interests at heart.

Well done, I'm looking forward to the sequel due out this fall.

Book Review: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:30:00 +0000

It comes as little secret that Jane Austen is one of my favorite authors. I have Persuasion and Pride and Prejudice quite nearly memorized (I'm close on Sense and Sensibility), mostly from having listened to Nadia May's readings of them while working on my databases or driving. I have no doubt my next door neighbors were relieved when the last round of data entry was complete last fall and the calm female voice no longer hummed on for three to four hours at a time.

Keeping this in mind, I wasn't overly excited to see this title come out. Certainly many authors have taken the characters and continued one of the stories or borrowed them. The Dashwoods show up in Jasper Fforde's The Eyre Affair for example. But I've not made it a big practice to read continuations and the whole zombie thing just doesn't appeal to me. I'm okay with vampires and werewolves, but not so much with zombies outside of MJ's "Thriller."

It sounded funny and tongue in cheek, though, so I grabbed it--ahead of Oprah mentioning it and causing the library hold lists to explode.

It started out well enough, the girls transformed from mere husband hunters into zombie warriors who have trained in China. And the majority of the text was lifted from the original, with zombie scenes added in discreet places in between Miss Austen's. But then Mr. Grahame-Smith started altering the attribution of dialogue. While I knew it shouldn't bother me, and it wasn't done in such a fashion to make dialogue not work...I knew immediately when he'd changed something. (As I told the Incredibly Patient Mother, my brain wouldn't stop shrieking "But he doesn't apologize to Mary....")

He threw in odd, sharper dialogue between the characters--particularly coming from Darcy and Mr. Bennett. These two men, for their faults of pride and lacsidasicle raising of daughters, are supposed to be gentlemen. Odd references to the sexual definition of the word "balls" (as opposed to the dancing) and rude responses jarred me out of the text. And, for me at least, it didn't add. Fighting scenes, visually descriptive enough scenes of people being eaten by zombies that I wouldn't want to read this and eat spaghetti at the same time--those worked and were interesting. While most of the characters needed to survive (won't work if Darcy is the living dead), Mr. Grahame-Smith found a way to kill one of the characters off who survives the original.

Overall--mixed feelings. It was interesting and made the girls a little more active than just five young ladies seeking husbands but I definitely found elements of the change distracting and contextually jarring (moreso than the dead crawling out of their graves and eating people's brains even).

Part of Your Librarian Radar

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 02:30:00 +0000

There's a strange radar that comes with being a children's librarian--that of being able to spot a child looking for a parent they can't see. There's a change in body language, a hesitancy. Occasionally the radar malfunctions and the child has already melted into tears but often that first quiet "Mommy?" or slightly fearful look sets off alarm bells ringing. Usually parent/sibling/relative is just down one of the non-fiction aisles, out of direct line of sight but not really that far away. But sometimes I've had quite the stroll around the building in search of "Patron Age 5's Adult."

But we go to search, which is faster and less scary than making them wait while we page the whole building. Generally, the child is okay with walking in the general vicinity of me (the "safe adult") to see if we can't find their grown-up, but sometimes they'll hang back a few feet, just out of reach. They're willing to check down the chapter book aisles in my wake but I'm still a strange adult.

Chalk it up to one of those things you get crowned with alongside "knowing everything" on graduating with the MLS. :-p

Playaway Update

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 22:31:00 +0000

Valerie asked for an update on how Playaways are going.

We've now had Playaways in my library for about 18 months. The collections--in adult, children's and teens are doing quite well. Our adult audio selector had a specific budget line this year for Playaways, which may give you an indication of their rising popularity.

Currently, we have over 350 titles on Playaway. Approximately 160 of those are children/teens, nearly doubling my initial collection purchased in December of 2007.

Fun Facts

* Circulation is good and usage is pretty steady across ages. Our teen collection is seeing the lowest regular use, but even most of those titles are seeing around 5 circulations per year (3 week circ period).

* You do have to replace the entire thing if something breaks, but there are some warranties. Recorded Books gives you a year, which is nice when something goes wrong nine months into owning it. It is occasionally frustrating to not be able to just refinish a disc.

* Now that the initial novelty has passed and purchasing (in youth services) is on a slower trickle, circulation has gone down a little. I anticipated this as I don't have the funds to buy 100 new titles every six months, so I'm not disappointed that the shelves aren't totally picked clean. New titles go out very well and, because I bought a number of classics (Charlotte's Web/Boxcar Children) as well as newer titles, there is usually an audience.

* Picture book authors with multiple titles on one Playaway (Clifford, Doreen Cronin) are VERY popular. I get the impression there are a lot of car rides with those characters in someone's headphones. Clifford is our most popular title in children's; Eragon in teens.

* You can't please all patrons and periodically someone is disappointed that I only have it in one format or the other. It's a matter of budget, whether or not the title warrants it (I decided the Christopher Paolini's Eragon series did but not Michael Buckner's Fairytale Detective series), as well as availability. Neither Harry Potter nor Twilight are currently available on Playaway. Yes, I'm sure. No, I don't know if the publishers will be permitting release in that format. I'm not really sure why, it seems like it would be another good cash cow.

* It's an easy sell to most patrons. If patrons want to listen as a group, especially in the car, a convertor that would work with an mp3 player will also work with this format. It's great for families going on road trips with varied reading interests. It's good for people who need to move around while listening: you can put it in a pocket or some of them come with lanyards. Either way, it's smaller and goes through far fewer batteries than a cd player. It is harder to break or scratch or lose--though I don't recommend patrons try it out on the new puppy. (Harder does not equal impossible.)

* It doesn't take a long time to explain. Most of the kids here are seeing them in the schools, so the technology is familiar to them. Adults seem relatively comfortable with the new technology--though some have thought we reintroduced VHS because of the shape of the cases.

* We chose not to put the locks on the cases. That works for us and to date we haven't had a particular problem with them wandering off. That'll be specific to each library.

* The customer service people at Playaway are nice but occasionally trying. I think they have finally learned that calling me is a sure way to get on my nerves, but in the last email they managed to screw up my adult selector's email address. Their website still gives me headaches--I have a difficult time finding what's new except via subscribing to the RSS feed and their tagging is very strange to me. Unless I'm looking for a very specific title, and even sometimes then, I've found the site difficult to navigate. (Can you imagine that I don't want to page through nearly 3K titles 25 at a time?)

* Ipage now carries Playaways with a 25% discount. More audio publishers are coming on board with the format, which allows for more options to purchase with simultaneous (or nearly) publication of the print version. There's still variance in pricing but in general it's cheaper to get the Playaway (especially from Recorded Books) than the Book on CD. It's nice if you use Ipage regularly as you can make a choice to get both print and audio at the same time.

* We continue to supply the first battery and sell headphones. In children's we do keep a couple of sets of headphones that can be given out as staff warrants necessary. We also chose to purchase a few extra cases, pieces of foam, and battery covers. Particularly with the last, it just seemed prudent and for the I think two that I've had to replace, we didn't charge the patron. I figured a five pack of those every year or so was part of the cost of having them.

Overall the collection is very successful and well used by our patrons. I'm generally hearing only good feedback from the kids and parents in the children's area, with the occasionally wish that we had more titles or titles on both cd and Playaway format. With more digital players and digital downloads being available from public libraries, I think it's a format our patrons will grow ever more at ease with.

If there's a specific question I can answer, please let me know.

Hedgehogs in the News: JAMA

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:36:00 +0000

Hedgehogs, we're everywhere, including your major American medical journals.

Thanks to Martha for the tip!

On the Care and Reading of Chapter Book Series

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:59:00 +0000

As I've mentioned before, I do the collection development for the children's room chapter book series. I've got the computer doing a computation on just how many books that is at the moment (minus the hundred or so on order and about to be ordered for July).

3506 Regular Collection
436 New Arrivals/On Order
1359 Paperback books (we're slowly moving those over so they'll be just in the regular collection but with that many, it'll take ten years or so)

Total: 5301 (minus a few that have probably gone missing)

A large number of those are books in series--ranging from Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles to Animorphs to Tiara Club to Harry Potter. There's a wide variety of topics, time periods, age levels, book thickness. Kids love series. (So do adults, for that matter, or some of the more popular mystery and romance novelists would never have made it very far.)

With the care and feeding of the collection comes the making suggestions responsibilities* and that means I take home piles of books. The houseguests who've visted can attest that the "library basket" in my kitchen is overflowing--all the time. I rarely get to read anything more than a picture book at work and I feel severely guilty when I actually stop and go through some of my chapter books more than a brief skim. But how to know what to suggest?

I read the first books in series. I've found that it's usually enough to give me a sense of the series, to know what a child is referring to when they coming looking for the "owl" books or the "pet fairy"; I have a sense of storyline, characters, grade level, can discuss with involved parents whether it would be a good fit for their child, etc.

This baffles some patrons, who are hurt and offended that I'm not reading every single book in the series they most adore. "If you'd only read the second/fourth/fifteenth book" some have pleaded. I'm apparently committing some crime by only deigning to read the first one or three books. Sometimes I'm gentle but often (especially with adults) I'm blatantly honest--I don't have that much time in my life. I have piles of books at home waiting to be read, a few of which are even "adult" books rather than written for those sixth grade and under. On a good day I can squeeze in a couple of hours of reading, but good days are coming few and far between right now.

It's part of the job and I enjoy getting to see what new children's literature is out there. I consider it a testament to really good authors when I say yes, I've read the whole series (and wasn't 8 when I did so). I've praised Flanagan's Ranger's Apprentice and Springer's Enola Holmes series before and I'm caught up fully with Enola, though Book 5 of the Ranger's Apprentice on CD is waiting at home for me. I also just sat down and charged through all the new books in the American Girls series, but that was an hour and change of reading...

Such it is and with literally hundreds of new books coming in each year--I unfortunately can't read them all. When I can pass on a series, it lets me get to those rare gems that aren't a series. And really, life is too short to keep reading books I'm not fully invested in.

*in library speak we call that "reader's advisory"

Abandon the Books...

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:00:00 +0000

I'm not particularly good at stopping books. Never starting them, that's an area where I excel, as the tomes that have been hauled back and forth to work several times will probably unhappily attest. I'm interested in starting them, except for when I actually go to pick something up to read out of my library basket.

Two books though lost their coveted bedside table spot and were returned un-finished to the library.

Belle Weather: Mostly Sunny with a Chance of Scattered Hissy Fits
Celia Rivenbark

Another round of Rivenbark's funny stories about living in the deep south. While I appreciate her ability to self-deprecate, throw in some explanations for the Yankees, and generally be southern---I just couldn't get into it this time. Perhaps if I'd charged right into it following Bless Your Heart, Tramp but instead it languished. And surely others need a chance at the humor.

Larklight
Philip Reeve

Magpie-like, I picked this book up based on the cover of the third book in the series. I've tried to read it and I've tried to enjoy it. I fell asleep over it when I was in NY but that was attributable to exhaustion, I fall asleep over books I'm enjoying all the time.

Reeve sets out a world where a family can live in space, with hoverhogs (convenient vacuum cleaners that have an interesting method of propelling themselves about) and gravity generators and, of course, the absent mother for two kids and the father. Only, spiders show up and take over and the father is killed and the kids must set off on adventures around the universe.

I wanted to like this book but two things bothered me: the unnecessary swearing and the repetitive sentence structure. I'm not the librarian to write off a book just because there is a curse word in it, though it does frustrate me when an otherwise easy-sell book becomes instantly impossible because the parents will not approve on that basis. But here it felt like the author was trying to be cool and edgy, and so was tossing in swearing. It got in the way and felt very out of place for the Victorian setting that the book was supposed to have, where talking of bodily functions is deemed unnecessarily crude. Secondly was the repetitive sentence structure. While this works for rhyming books, it got dull and less imaginative here. And I got bored.

Not everything is a hit, which is all well and good, but these didn't even warrant finishing. At least not for me.

Who Decided It Could Be June

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 17:16:00 +0000

I need their number because, seriously? June? Really? Practically LATE June no less?

I'm baffled that we're half way through 2009. I'm flabbergasted that the first week of summer reading has already zipped by--though I expect to be crawling home at the end of next week thankful that it's nearly July. Go figure. But it is time to revisit what goals I set myself.

Goals for 2009: 1) Use things -- I have tea, yarn, books...so many things that are here waiting for me. When they start feeling like clutter rather than things I enjoy, it's time to use up or get rid of rather than hold on indefinitely.

Where I'm at in June: I've brought five bags of books to work and sent them downstairs to the Friends Book Sale. And I still have LOTS of books at home. I'm starting to hone the collection though to ones I have read, enjoyed and will re-read. I've gone through most of the huge amount of tea that was residing and I burned a lot of candles, as that is what they are for. Yarn? Well....we won't talk about the yarn at the moment--though I did bring 30 skeins to a stash swap in March and didn't take anything home.

2) Knit for myself. I talk a lot about knitting but almost always it's for other people. Call it selfish but I want some warm woolly things for me.

Where I'm at in June: I finally finished the cowl I cast on for myself in January. I've started on a shawl. I just have to seam up an afghan that will be all wool and all for me! And I've come up with all sorts of things to make for other people.

3) Write for more than just my blog audience. I need a better collection of rejection emails and letters and possibly some acceptances too.

Where I'm at in June: I've come up with another book idea. I have very crazy looking post it notes that require at least a year's acquaintance with me to figure out what I'm talking about. My houseguest last weekend managed to translate it.

4) Scrapbook old papers. Not the incredibly matted, decorated, and beribboned, just the "here's a paper, here's something from junior high" with some notes on the side about why I kept it.

Where I'm at in June: Nothing here yet.

5) Survive braces....20 months to go. (14 ish left now?)

Where I'm at in June: Doing okay, not great but okay. Got the bottom braces on a week ago. Eating spaghetti is creative. I did invest in the platypus flossers and they are amazing and I love them. Rubber bands are a necessary but painful evil. Tylenol is wonderful.

6) Get my books into LibraryThing.

If I volunteered to have beverages and snacks, do you think I could get a flash cataloging mob at my apartment? It could be a small mob, maybe just of one other person to motivate me.

What about you? How are your goals coming?

Book Review: Tumtum and Nutmeg

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 17:10:00 +0000

Tumtum and Nutmeg: Adventures Beyond Nutmouse Hall
by Emily Bearn
Illustrated by Nick Price

It always surprises people when in the midst of a serious discussion of library policies, information literacy, sustainability in the current economy, etc--I can suddenly vacillate to talking about the cute new mouse book I'm reading.

Fortunately, as they're shaking their head, I have a lot of talk about. Bearn has combined three short novels that are paired beautifully with Price's detailed drawings.

Tumtum and Nutmeg live in a broom closet long hidden behind a dresser. They live in style, with many bed and bathrooms, and a glorious ballroom that isn't often used. Their residence is part of a ramshackle cottage where an absentminded-professor father and his children Arthur and Lucy live. Having no children of their own, the mice decide to take on the human children, caring for their clothes and doing some repairs to the cottage.

In the first story we meet the mice as Nutmeg decides she'd like to help the children. When their evil aunt arrives and poisons Tumtum, Nutmeg gains assistance from the local General Marchmouse to thwart her. Nutmeg is sadly, given little credit for her various engenuity --though she writes back and forth with Lucy and Arthur, who dub her a good fairy, especially when they drive away the aunt. In their second and third tales, General Marchmouse, who obviously doesn't have enough to do, spurs the two less-adventuresome mice, into situations where they run against rats, sinking ships, pogo sticks, gerbils, and a teacher who doesn't like rodents.

The stories are a delightful and quick read. While I was a little skeptical at Tumtum spending the days reading and eating and lounging whilst Nutmeg bustles about the kitchen--one certainly feels sympathy that their tranquility is so often disrupted by their near neighbor. Bearn provides a lot of detail that brings to life how much differently things are viewed from mouse size (one pork sausage, 6" long, feeds several hundred mice).

It's a thick book, being a 3-in-1, just over 500 pages. But it will capture the heart of the readers as they cheer Nutmeg and Tumtum through their adventures and safely home. For mouse lovers everywhere.

Book Review: Wintergirls

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 03:23:00 +0000

Wintergirls
Laurie Halse Anderson

Anderson is known for her deft skill with words and this latest book packs a wallop. Lia is an anorexic, supposedly recovering, but still caught within the depths of the illness even after her best friend, a bulimic dies from the binge/purge cycle.

Narrated by Lia in a somewhat journal-entry style, the reader is drawn in and it's difficult to get out of the book and to get Lia out of your head. Her hyper-awareness of caloric intake and her obsessive focus on food and weight permeates the pages. You have crawled into the mind of a girl whose entire world is defined by the food she is not consuming. It's defining her relationship with herself, with the other members of her family, and how she perceives everyone else around her.

The book follows Lia in weeks immediately following the death of her best friend Cassie. While struggling with her weight and her attempts to continue to hide her anorexia, Lia is taunted by Cassie's ghost and gives insight via flashbacks to the relationship between the two girls. She turns to the internet and nameless other girls who seek affirmation in their quest to be super-thin. She voices the socially correct platitudes to the adults around her, hiding behind a mask of indifference and frustration.

Anderson's work is powerful in it's capture of the voice of a girl who cannot see anything beyond calories and desiring power over her own body through her ever lowering weight. Anderson has amazing insight and sympathy for girls caught in bodies they perceive as bloated, where they must inflict wounds to let out the pain and subject themselves to too much exercise and starvation to try and achieve what they feel will be beauty and strength.

There have been articles that suggest the book could be a trigger for some. It could. But so could watching the runway models at most of the major fashion shows or actually considering a career in modeling. (I'm on the extra-petite side of things and I know I'd have to "lose inches" as I've heard it referred to in order to model.)

It's a powerful, utterly disturbing book. A quick read but not one I'd recommend for younger teens. It's a frighteningly well done examination of illness from our nation's obsession with being thin.

All the More Reason to Visit

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 20:45:00 +0000

La Crosse, the current residence of this hedgehog, has been chosen as one of the U.S. News and World Report's 2009 "Best 10 Places to Live".

So when are y'all coming to check it out?

(The Master Sergeant* keeps saying he's coming to fish...)

*Tech Sergeant got a promotion!

Celebrating Me :)

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:19:00 +0000

A little shameless celebration of me. I was interviewed during the Knitting in Public day in March for an article in our regional knitting magazine.

The article is now available on page 27.

Yippee!

Mending in Action

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:40:00 +0000

I was prepared this particular trip to New York: I packed five pair of shoes. That this meant that I came home with somewhere around 8 blisters per foot should mean nothing. Really, someday my feet will re-adapt to hiking around a concrete jungle.

Three weekends ago I had company, AudioGirl came up to spend a weekend, and then I dashed off for the Brunette's 30th birthday. In between I hustled myself in to work, whisking through piles of paperwork as quickly as possible so I wouldn't be behind at the end of May and my frolicking about elsewhere. My desk doesn't look too bad.

My knee, on the other hand, has started turning shades of cranberry. We're none of us really sure how I acquired this spectacular beauty, though popular theory is that I slammed into one of the tables at Kush.

Day After

Today

Having AudioGirl here was delightful. We explored little restaurants, found a breakfast place no one had ever mentioned (a good one!!), and shopped. Somehow, between Sunday and Monday, it was decided I was buying a table we'd come across in the Antique Center downtown. I'd never considered "real" furniture an impulse buy, but when one finds such a fabulous wood table at half the cost of a similar laminate table at the nearby furniture store well..... The added bonus of someone to carry it up the stairs and wiggle it in and out of the car with me was there too.

And then a trip home. I spent a night out with the Blonde and ended up having a mini-college reunion while doing Karaoke. I blame my song choice of the evening on the pollen in the air, I didn't have anything like my usual voice and talked my way through a piece by one of the current pop princesses.

We went out for the Brunette's birthday and I spent the Memorial Day with Dee, reliving the last three years at high speed in front of a very confused and somewhat intrigued waiter. I don't think he had previously fathomed that we could maintain the rapidity of speech we held up for the entire meal. Why yes, everything's lovely and we'd adore another cup of tea.....

The only delay was coming home, Chicago was under heavy downpour, and I spent that portion of trip fully immersed in the only knitting project I'd taken with me.

In the course of the weekend I went through
2 mp3 players (forgot the battery charger, glad I took both!)
5 books (which meant I ran out of reading material on Monday)
1 journal (had to wait til I got home and dug out a new blank book)
2 editing projects (helps when you're out of reading material)
Many bandaids

As I kept muttering to myself while sitting on the plane from CHI to LSE--had I run out of yarn, someone would have been in trouble.

Can you believe tomorrow is June?

Customer Service IS Your Fault

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:20:00 +0000

I have an appointment with a Community Bank Manager at my current bank next Friday. Considering the email I sent her last night, I don't really anticipate it to be the best of meetings.

To say I've been disappointed with their customer service practices would be putting it mildly. Following a data breach in March, the bank shut down everyone's debit cards and issued new ones. Okay fine. Not telling anyone about it for 18 hours because the call had come mid-afternoon and they didn't want to work late? Not fine. I was seriously less than impressed when their website was never updated with the information of the breach.

Yesterday, armed with new card, I went in to change the random pin they had assigned. No one had ever told me that this wasn't an option and since WaMu was doing it 6 years ago, I figured it would be a two minute process. Not so much. No, I'd have to get another new debit card if I wanted to pick my own pin.

I pause now for you to say "Huh?" and reread that last sentence to make sure you read it correctly. You did.

It further troubles me that I was told that I couldn't even GET my pin number for 7-10 days (it was random and not something I'd remembered in the period since March, as I planned to change it. Tells you how often I go to the ATM doesn't it?). I was not pleased to find out this morning that, oh, well yes they could get it for me before I leave for NY tomorrow. It shouldn't take this kind of frustration on my part to get results.

And through it all I've been faced with a solid line of bank workers using the phrase "it's not our fault." I will be very interested to see if we can get through next week's meeting without using it.

I work in a public service position. We're working very hard to find new and improved ways to reach our patrons/customers/etc and make sure we're removing barriers to the access of information and dinosaur books. We're continually looking for ways that we can take "no" out of our every day.

I don't feel like my bank has the same policy. Which is why I'm looking for a new one.

Last Kids Knitting for Spring

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:09:00 +0000

Tuesday will be the last Kids Knitting Day for Spring 2009 and it's been a successful third round for me. I'm finishing with about 20 kids who have attended more than once or twice, with an average weekly attendance of 14.

Achievements for this spring:

We had crocheting lessons, and at least one girl took to it like a duck to water.
My lone boy learned how to do stranded colorwork.
We had a really successful competition.
The local newspaper featured the group in the paper.
I was interviewed for a local women's magazine in reference to the kids knitting group as well as the Knitting in Public Day.
I've taught several kids how to knit and myriad other tricks of the trade.
I now have a library of circular and double pointed needles I can use for teaching/loan as needed.
I've managed to acquire a swift (winder will be coming), so they'll be able to use the library one rather than mine.
I've book-talked huge piles of books, encouraging them to try new series, new titles, and to trust me to introduce them to new books. A number of them now seek me out regularly in search of something new to read, or willingly accept when I shove a book at them and say "this one made me think of you."

It's not a particularly aggressive program, which is one of the things that works nicely about it. I'm ready for a brief break after five months but am looking forward to a break as a chance to plan new and exciting things for them. This fall I'm scheduling two sessions of an advanced techniques course.

In the interim, I promised snacks next week. I have to figure out what we're having.

Taking Over Milwaukee

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Wed, 13 May 2009 00:13:00 +0000

The Tech Sergeant (who is about to get a promotion and will have to be renamed) and I met in Milwaukee for a weekend of relaxation and exploration.

We both ducked out of our respective homes late Thursday, I driving east and he west. I had to beat him there as I was the one with the hotel reservation. I'd used Hotwire and we were staying at the Hilton City Center. We both chose to park at the hotel, coworkers had shared a couple of "scary parking stories" and we knew we'd have to pull the cars at least twice.

In true "watch us wilt at the same time," despite plans of immediately launching ourselves on the town, we both opted for beverages and catching up and a midnight bedtime. Painting Milwaukee red would have to wait.

Friday was absolutely perfect from a weather perspective, clear sunny and just warm enough. Armed with a map, we set off. We stopped at George Webbs for breakfast, good basic breakfast food and decent coffee. From breakfast it was off to the art museum. If you've never approached it, as you're walking east on Wisconsin Ave you wonder "Is that a boat? Oh it must be some kind of crazy yacht. No wait, that's a building, oh that's the art museum." Apparently Santiago Calatravas was to attempting to capture bird wings in flight--in steel. It's unusual. I wondered about trying to heat it (we were in Wisconsin), trying to clean the windows (no thanks) and what the acoustics were (it was too loud inside for me to get a clear sense of how higher pitched sounds would reverberate. TS thought my muted squeaking attempts amusing.)

We enjoyed the art museum and in grabbing beverages after TS discovered a lemonade that he would continue to drink all weekend, apparently it's locally made and tart enough to make his eyes water. I forwent the joy of my eyes watering too. We ventured to the war memorial, which was a little underwhelming, though we did like all of the historical war ads (Men! Join the clean plate club with your wives!).

From the museums we walked to the Historical Third Ward and did some shopping. He found an artist whose things he might purchase in the future and we "designed" two bathrooms and three kitchens. I like stainless steel accents, he prefers a warmer cozier look. Both of us like the idea of hidden fridges/dishwashers.

Then it was back to the hotel for a hat (coworker loaned me a Cubs cap for the trip) and to the shuttle. Out to the field and, loaded with beverages and hot dogs (later nachos) we took in the Cubs/Brewers game. Lots of fun with enthusiastic but not aggressive fans. A number of college student celebrating the end of finals. I did briefly wish I had some knitting with me but survived not having it. Despite the Cubbie loss we were able to go out and enjoy a couple of area bars.

Apparently neither of us were going to be able to sleep late on this mini-vacation, we were up and out early every day. First we took my car and headed north. I made him navigate to two yarn stores. He patiently accompanied me and we discussed the use of mohair as a fly-fishing tool, found some corn yarn that was pretty awesome, and debated different types of tools that I use for my craft. We also found a good bagel shop and I broke the "braces no bagels" rule. I've been good about following that directive but fresh bagels were not to be missed.

Then we got sort of turned around but managed to find our way to the Miller Brewing Company. We toured the factory, seeing just how many cases of beer they ship out each day. It was daunting to think of how much was shipped and consumed regularly from just that one location. Even more surprising: 40% of the products created there go directly and only to Chicago. I liked whatever they served us that had orange and coriander. Yes, I drink girly drinks.

We finished the day with dinner at Cafe La Scala. The food was excellent. And....we both overate on appetizers and salad and couldn't make it through our meals.

Back to the hotel and the TS asked me to show him how to knit. We had a couple of hours lag time so I walked him through the basics. Unfortunately I only had one set of needles with me, so we had to go back and forth but he picked up on it pretty fast. I agreed to learn fly-tying next time.

And then we took his car out late to see the new Star Trek movie. Being as I was without computer, I'd called the Milwaukee Public Library for help on who was showing it where. We ended up at the Oriental Theater. Wow--what a theater!! (sorry the pics are blurry, they said pictures were okay if I didn't use the flash) Huge, "theater" style rather than what I would think of movie style seating, red velvet curtain, 7' Buddhas, elephants....

Oh, and the movie was pretty awesome too! If you like Star Trek at all, I'd recommend that you go see it. It pays tribute without being super cheesy or trying to be too much it's own thing. And the cameo appearance elicited a couple of cheers.

Coming out of the theater we ran into people coming in for Rocky Horror, which was apparently being shown around 12 a.m. I could not convince the TS that we needed to stay for a late night double feature picture show, to have a toast, or do the time warp.

Sunday was breakfast and back to the Third Ward to hit the Public Market. I'd already loaded up on goodies from a local chocolatier but cheese and curds going home with the TS had to wait until we were ready to go. (No fridge in the hotel room). After Starbucks and watching many little ducklings swim around the river, we got on the road.

I made it home and promptly took a nap. Apparently he went by a Bass Pro shop on the way home.

We're already making plans for next year.

One Eye Open...

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Tue, 05 May 2009 03:55:00 +0000

The Tech Sergeant rang early enough this morning that I was not yet out of bed. As many of you know, this is not a disturbance I take lightly, particularly when I wake up sounding like a frog courtesy of spring allergies.

Fortunately, as I later noted, he's on the short list of people who do not face full hedgehog wrath when I'm awoken in such a state. And if you have to ask, you're not on the list. But in case you wondered what hedgehog wrath looks like, I share with you my bad drawing skills.

TechNO Changes?

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Sat, 02 May 2009 16:00:00 +0000

While perusing a vanity search, I found Walt's post about TechNos and revisited my own list of things I don't do in this ever changing technological world. I thought it'd be interesting to do a comparison.

Last Year:

DTV: Wasn't worried about the transition
SQL: On the To Learn Better List
No Digital Camera
A little concerned about Blu-Ray

This Year

DTV, the transition came and went and many people still need boxes. Haven't heard any great fussing about it though. **ETA: Walt reminds me that we've not gone through DTV yet, though a couple of our local stations have. Still, it has dropped off the radar of late. Thanks Walt!
SQL: Still on the to-learn list, though my database work is thumping various aspects into my brain
I now have a small digital camera that lives in my purse. It's pretty awesome and I'm enjoying it. Still miss some of the film camera aspects, but being able to inflict all of my Ravelry and Friendfeed friends with pictures of my yarn and knitting projects.
Have yet to buy a Blu-Ray player.

New Things for This Year?

I'm still not an active gamer outside of the occasional round of Scramble or Word Twist on Facebook
I've not gotten into ebooks. With piles in my library basket, on my bookshelves, and on my waiting lists, it could yet be a while before I get to those.
My high speed internet doesn't play nice with my wireless, so I've never used Hulu

What things have changed for you over the last year? What things have you become aware of that you are choosing to not embrace or might embrace in the future?

State of the Hedgehog

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 20:32:00 +0000

I keep starting posts and not finishing them. I really must clean out that draft folder. Wittiness, wisdom, and hedgehoggy humor await their turn in the spotlight.

Just a quick update on things here.

I'm swimming in yarn again at work. People very generously to donate to the kids group and I hit a garage sale with Our Lady of the Business Office on Friday. It's mostly acrylic but it is bright colors and that's important to my kids. Renewed swimming is good--because we were starting to run low. The kids have gone through a TON of yarn this spring and we still have a month.

But then I'm also swimming in yarn at home, which might not be as good. If anyone thinks I'm jesting, check out the Flickr set. Though a fair number of those have been knitted up or donated or sent away (about 55, look for the gone/used tag), the majority are still taking over the den. This whole life thing, it gets in the way of my knitting time.

I'm taking a Digital Content Management Course, or will be as soon as we figure out why I'm not getting the lessons. I've emailed, hoping for a prompt answer.

Databases are steady but not in the frantic sense of last month. We've figured out some calculations that should make life much easier and less complicated for New York--yay!! Taking three-four hours out of my Managing Editor's monthly tabulations = win.

I read four books over the weekend, one of them an audiobook and yes, about 8 of the 9.5 hours was listened to between Saturday and Sunday. I'm knitting a shrug for a Raccoon offspring and needed something to focus on during all that K1P1 ribbing. John Flanagan and John Keating (Ranger's Apprentice series available from Recorded Books) are a wickedly awesome combination and now I'm sad that I have to wait until book five comes in and goes through the other two people before me on the hold list. Yes, I could grab the hardcover copy over in teen but I've found with this series I really prefer to listen. At least it's coming in and book six will be here in August, just as I fall down after summer reading.

I confirmed again today with my orthodontist that I really don't want oral surgery. He seems to think not having it was his idea. It wasn't. Band date for lower half of the mouth: June 12, which is the day before summer reading kicks off. I'll be having Advil for breakfast and lunch that Saturday.

Summer Reading is coming and I feel pretty good about it. I'm seeing how many creative ways we can use up a ton of tissue paper (gift wrap kind, not bathroom). It is going to be awesome, promise.

I've almost found my desk---which gets me back to weeding by the end of today!! Hoping to get through the chapterbook collection before summer reading starts. Cross your fingers for me.

Brain Break: Bear Hunt

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:43:00 +0000

Who remembers the summer rhyme "We're Going on a Bear Hunt"? I can recall a whole herd of cousins sitting on the front porch of my grandmother's farmhouse giggling our way through it.

Michael Rosen wrote a very popular picture book about it and provides an incredibly amusing rendition here:

(found via Betsy Bird)

Book Review: Crictor by tomi Ungerer

noreply@blogger.com (HL) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:01:00 +0000

Do you remember reading Crictor as a child?

It was a Reading Rainbow book, back when LeVar Burton was both part of my occasional afternoon television line up and Lt. Commander Geordi when I was allowed to stay up and watch Star Trek: The Next Generation.*

It was also a favorite book of mine as a child, which probably ended up in many hours of me wandering around and subjecting the Incredibly-Patient-Mother to me saying "Crictor, Crictor, the boa constrictor"

Crictor is a pet sent to Madame by her son, who is off in the depths of Africa. The book presents a snake far more like a dog than any snake I've met, happy to go along to the shop, to school, or out for a glass of milk, which he drinks through a straw.

What probably amuses me the most about this book is when Crictor rescues Madame from a burgular. Suddenly Crictor has fangs (despite being non-venemous, which we already learned, and despite the fact that I don't see any on this real photo of a constrictor) and behaves like the natural predator that he is. How would you convince the pet constrictor to let go of burgular prey? Well, that's not really clear, but he does get a park named after him for such bravery.

And he gets to wear a knitted tube sweater in the winter. Which I have to enjoy.

* Looking back, I realize they had a number of good actors on that show: LeVar Burton, Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner