Some of the things people lament, the presumed ills of modern Christmas like over-indulgence of food and drink, are actually its truest traditions. “What my study does is focus on how the festival has been reinvented. In his telling, tradition is just the dream of the present. He has written a fascinating book, about how modern Christmas came about. Stephen Nissenbaum, Professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, knows more about these myths than most. Still the most important festival of the northern year, Christmas has layers of subtexts and meanings, and we surround ourselves with artefacts and traditions which constantly mix fables and fact, ancient rituals and modern myth. The month of December has always had special significance for those of us who live through long, dark winters. I found it hard to explain exactly why they had to be separated. One year my son decided to place our small crib at the center of this tableaux, with a particularly fine Santa, all red velvet and white beard, placed strategically beside Baby Jesus’ cot. Mixed in with the red-hatted creatures go sheep, reindeer, and miniature pine trees. The dining table becomes a winter wonderland, covered with Santas of different nationality, size and shape. Ancient carol singers share the mantelpiece with a new holly wreath. When getting ready for Christmas, decorations collected over the years come down from the attic to transform our house into a yuletide shrine.
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Frog Trouble also includes performer pictures and bios in the very back. These are always available either as a plain CD or as a CD inside a picture book, which includes big pictures with most of the lyrics in the front, and all the lyrics with the music in the back. I have enjoyed all of them, but I have found in general that many people only really enjoy the Boynton album written in a style they already like. This album is clearly country, and sung by a wide variety of familiar names, including Alison Krauss, Darius Rucker, Fountains of Wayne, Kacey Musgraves and more. Most of the albums seem to have a musical theme – Broadway with Philadelphia Chickens, classic rock with Dog Train, 50s and 60s music with Blue Moo. I’ve been enjoying Sandra Boynton’s illustrated albums for children since Philadelphia Chickens – her clever humor combined with Michael Ford’s catchy tunes are a brand of musical fun we all enjoy. Frog Trouble: and Eleven Other Pretty Serious Songs for Ages One to Older Than Dirt by Sandra Boynton. Jane Goodall finally went to Africa when she was twenty-three years old. She worked as a secretary, as an assistant editor in a film studio, and as a waitress, trying to save enough money to make her first trip to Africa. When Goodall was eighteen she completed secondary school and began working. Her mother encouraged Goodall's dream, which eventually became a reality. She loved animals so much that by the time she was ten or eleven she dreamed of living with animals in Africa. Once she spent five hours in a hen-house so she could see how a hen lays an egg. She was a good student, but she had more interest in being outdoors and learning about animals. When Goodall was about two years old her mother gave her a stuffed toy chimpanzee, which Goodall still possesses to this day. Her mother, Vanna (Joseph) Morris-Goodall, was a successful novelist. Herįather, Mortimer Herbert Morris-Goodall, was an engineer. The older of two sisters, Jane Goodall was born on April 3, 1934, in London, England, into a middle-class British family. Her methods of studying animals in the wild, which emphasized patient observation over long periods of time of both social groups and individual animals, changed not only how chimpanzees (a kind of ape) as a species are understood, but also how studies of many different kinds of animals are carried out. Jane Goodall was a pioneering English primatologist (a person who studies primates, which is a group of animals that includes human beings, apes, monkeys, and others). It received national attention when it appeared in its entirety in Life magazine, which commended it for being "a new kind of book for black children." Stevie was published in 1969 to outstanding critical praise. After the meeting, Nordstrom wrote to tell him, "We think you are tremendously talented and we are delighted to think that your first book will be for us." In the same letter she offered Steptoe a contract and an advance as soon as he had a "rough" dummy of the book ready. His artwork made a good impression on a staff member in the Department of Books for Boys and Girls, and days later Steptoe returned to see the department director Ursula Nordstrom. In 1967, while still a high school student and without an appointment, Steptoe took his portfolio to the office of Harper & Row. Steptoe began his first picture book, Stevie and me, when he was only 16 years old. He also attended the Vermont Academy, where he studied under the sculptor John Torres, and William Majors, a widely acclaimed painter. He began drawing as a young child and received formal art training at the High School of Art and Design in Manhattan, and had Norman Lewis as his instructor. John Steptoe was born in Brooklyn, New York. He is best known for Mufaro’s Beautiful Daughters, which was acknowledged by literary critics as a breakthrough in African history and culture. John Steptoe (Septem– August 28, 1989) was an author and illustrator for children’s books dealing with aspects of the African-American experience. I'm completely and utterly "HALED." Now, I'm sick too, period. I wasn't expecting the damage that it inflicted in my already damaged mind. I am definitely aware of the theme of the story. Webster can write the most corrupted taboo romances that I've ever read. Warning: This is not your traditional romance. When she's not writing, she's reading, drinking copious amounts of coffee, and researching aliens.Ĭan't find a certain book? Maybe it's too hot for Amazon! Don't worry because titles like Bad Bad Bad, This is War, Baby, The Wild, and Hale can all be found for sale on K's website in both ebook and paperback format. She lives in "Tornado Alley" with her husband, two children, and her baby dog named Blue. Her titles have claimed many bestseller tags in numerous categories, are translated in multiple languages, and have been adapted into audiobooks. K Webster is a USA Today Bestselling author. Catron who would become Ada’s nemesis, was part of the " Santa Fe Ring" which acquired land through dishonest dealings and exploitation. The Company had claimed 1.7 million acres without regard to Native American and Hispanic land rights. In 1872, she and her husband and moved to Cimarron, New Mexico Territory, where he was working as general manager, surveyor, and chief engineer of the Maxwell Land Grant and Railway Company. She married William Raymond Morley, who she met in college. In 1872, she earned a degree in English Literature, one of two women in the inaugural class of the first co-ed land grant college, now called Iowa State University. Ada McPerson started a New Mexico chapter of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). Morley owned a ranch in the Datil Mountains where she raised cattle and was able to host meetings.Īda McPherson was born on August 26, 1852, in Winterset, Iowa. She was also involved in women's suffrage in New Mexico and helped recruit women into the Congressional Union (CU) later in her life. Morley became involved with the New Mexico chapter of the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) and later served as president. Early in her time in New Mexico, she and her husband edited a newspaper and took on the Santa Fe Ring both in print and in business matters. Ada McPherson Morley (AugDecember 9, 1917) was an American author, suffragist and rancher. I’ll provide a brief description of what they’re all about without giving away any spoilers. Two ways to look at the Divergent series order.įor those who’d like a little more information on what’s in each of the books, keep reading. You decide for yourself which Divergent series order to use. Personally, I dislike going back in time, so I know that if I don’t read the prequels first, I won’t read them at all. Perhaps some details about parentage, but I don’t think these details are important enough to warrant reading them later. I usually recommend against such methods, but I don’t believe any spoilers are present in the prequels. With that in mind, the best Divergent series order is to read the books chronologically. Divergent Series Order: ChronologicalĬonsidering that the novellas were primarily all produced after the conclusion of the trilogy, most of their contents take place much earlier. The Path to Allegiant and We Can Be Mended are not apart of any bundle, and need to be purchased separately. Five of those novellas have been bundled into the book entitled Four. This is the series order in which the books were released and how most early fans of the series enjoyed them.Īs you can see, there are only three main books, but there are a series of novellas/short stories. The are two ways to read the Divergent books in order. Now that we’ve given a brief overview of Veronica Roth’s world, let’s take a look at the Divergent series order. Hampton told almost no one about his work, but notes attached to the various objects seem to indicate that he was receiving visitations by angels, who directed him to construct the Throne in preparation for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. After several uncertain years, it was donated to the Smithsonian’s Museum of American Art in 1970. He spent at least 14 years working every night, in secret, and it was only discovered by his landlord after his death in 1964. Hampton, an African American WWII veteran and janitor at the General Services Administration, built the 180+piece assemblage out of discarded furniture, cardboard, cellophane, blotter paper, and foil, in a rented DC garage. One of the most incredible works of visionary art in Washington DC is James Hampton’s The Throne of the Third Heaven of the Nation’s Millennium General Assembly. It can be pretty satisfying now and again.” Perversely, he takes great pride in it. “That’s the problem with doing the devil’s work. Having embarked on his cruel career for compelling reasons, he admits being very good at his job. (Having first seen actual marshals in the 1960s when these men in suits enforced new civil rights laws, I was shocked to imagine them as slave catchers.) Yes, “Underground Airlines” proposes unthinkable things. Now its prime duty is to track and capture escaped slaves, then ship them back into bondage. Winters upends the Marshals Service’s historical mission and good purposes. marshal, which should identify him as a hero. The story seems simple enough: “Victor” - not his real name - introduces himself, an operative in deep cover, a U.S. His magnetic tale draws the reader from chapter to chapter like a compulsive shopper hunting for bargains in a strip mall. Runaways don’t fly in a single airplane here, and this hints at the author’s gift for the unexpected and his aversion to predictability. The underground railroad of yore survives only in the novel’s title as, curiously, this network remains a mismatched fleet of land vehicles manned by poorly organized abolitionists. “Lawrence Ferlinghetti turns 100 on March 24. Ferlinghetti will be of interest to anyone interested the history of free speech in America and the history of the Beat poets.” Collins and David Skover tell the true story of an American maverick who refused to play it safe and who in the process gave staying power to freedom of the press in America. With a novelist’s flair, noted free speech authorities, Ronald K. There is much color in that story: the bizarre twists of the trial, the swagger of the lead lawyer, the savvy of the young ACLU lawyer, and the surprise verdict of the Sunday school teacher who presided as judge. Ferlinghetti is the story of a rebellious poet, a revolutionary poem, an intrepid book publisher, and a bookseller unintimidated by federal or local officials. And yet when the best-selling poet and proprietor of City Lights Books was indicted under California law for publishing and selling Allen Ginsberg’s poem, Howl, Ferglinghetti buttressed the tradition of dissident expression and ended an era when minds were still closed, candid literature still taboo, and when selling banned books was considered a crime. “Lawrence Ferlinghetti’s name does not appear in any First Amendment treatise or casebook. We feature today Ronald K L Collins and David M Skover ‘s new book, The People v Ferlinghetti – The Fight to Publish Allen Ginsberg’s Howl. Check out our yesterday’s Ferlinghetti post. |