Why I Read Democratic Blogger, Atrios, at Eschaton

The man has a list of the books he's reading on his blog. So when he comments on politics we know he has depth, heart and the gentle madness.


Top 10 Books On the Bookshelf Immediately Facing Me

George Eliot, Middlemarch.


Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children.

AS Byatt, Still Life.

Nabokov, Lolita.

Richard Powers, The Prisoner's Dilemma.


Robertson Davies, The Cornish Trilogy.

Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace.


Graham Greene, The Quiet American.

Kazuo Ishiguro, The Unconsoled.


Robert Penn Warren, All the King's Men.

The Dark Side: Richard Cheney

After 9/11, Vice President Richard Cheney seized the initiative. He pushed to expand executive power, transform America's intelligence agencies and bring the war on terror to Iraq. But first he had to take on George Tenet's CIA for control over intelligence...Amid revelations about faulty prewar intelligence and a scandal surrounding the indictment of the vice president's chief of staff and presidential adviser, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, FRONTLINE goes behind the headlines to investigate the internal war that was waged between the intelligence community and Richard Bruce Cheney, the most powerful vice president in the nation's history.

UNESCO Literacy Prize Goes to Cuba

UNESCO Literacy Prize Goes to Cuba

The 2006 UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize is awarded to the Youth and Adult Literacy and Education Chair of the Latin American and Caribbean Pedagogical Institute of the Republic of Cuba (IPLAC) for its work “to advance individual and social potential through innovative teaching methods with successful outcome in more than 15 countries, notably Ecuador and Venezuela. Its programme has been adapted to, and in some times replicated in, different parts of the world, and in a variety of social, cultural and ethnic contexts. The reward also recognizes work carried out in designing a complex Evaluation Model of variables, indicators and instruments to monitor and assess the impact of these literacy programmes on the newly literates and their human environment as well as measuring their individual development. Audiovisual and new information and communication technologies have been used to extend the reach and the efficiency of teaching material, including post-literacy material, developed for the programme. The post-literacy materials is designed to inculcate and develop reading comprehension and writing proficiency, enlarge the vocabulary of the new literates, facilitate reflection and debate and develop oral expression. The programme also broaches subjects related to the family, the environment, hygiene and health linked to the socio-cultural, economic and political context of the country in which it is implemented.

Poets Against War

Poets Against War continues the tradition of socially engaged poetry by creating venues for poetry as a voice against war, tyranny and oppression. In late January 2003, in response to an invitation to a symposium by Laura Bush to celebrate "Poetry and the American Voice," Sam Hamill declined; a longtime pacifist, he could not in good faith visit the White House following the recent news of George W. Bush's plan for a unilateral "Shock and Awe" attack on Iraq. Instead, he asked about 50 fellow poets to "reconstitute a Poets Against the War movement like the one organized to speak out against the war in Vietnam...to speak up for the conscience of our country and lend your names to our petition against this war” by submitting poems of protest that he would send to the White House.

[Laura Bush cancelled the Poetry].

Donald Hall-New Poet Laureate

The head of the Library of Congress is to name Donald Hall, a writer whose deceptively simple language builds on images of the New England landscape, as the nation's 14th poet laureate .

...Mr. Hall, a poet in the distinctive American tradition of Robert Frost, has also been a harsh critic of the religious right's influence on government arts policy.

Library of Congress National Book Festival bio:

Donald Hall began writing as an adolescent and attended the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference at the age of 16 — the same year he had his first book published. He is the author of more than 21 books of prose and 15 books of poetry, including his most recent collection, The Best Day, The Worst Day: Life with Jane Kenyon (Houghton Mifflin, 2005). Among his many honors and awards are the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, The Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, and the Frost Medal. He is a member of the Academy of Arts and Letters and served as Poet Laureate of New Hampshire, the state where he lives.

Conservatives Use "Family Friendly" Code to Fire Librarian

Jo Ann Pinder led the Gwinnett County (GA) library system to a national Library of the Year award in 2000 She is a graduate of Leadership Gwinnett and continues her involvement on the Steering committee. She has served as president of the Lawrenceville Rotary, the J.M. Tull YMCA, and the League of Women Voters. She is active with the United Way’s Women’s Legacy and serves on the Annual Campaign’s Cabinet. Jo Ann is active in the American Library Association (ALA), currently serving on the governing Council and she is active in two of its divisions and has served as president of one—the Public Library Association.

A group of so-called "Family Friendly" conservatives in Gwinnett County, Georgia sponsor launched a Web site to harmonize the library system with conservative values .

The Gwinnett Daily Post reports:

Despite a showing of 200 supporters, the Gwinnett County library board fired Executive Director Jo Ann Pinder without cause Monday.
Disregarding catcalls from the audience and chants of "fire the board" coming from the hallway outside from dozens of people who couldn't get in the packed boardroom, members declined to give an explanation as to why the library's leader of 15 years was tossed out.

New Port Richey Public Library (FL)- Library of the Year

The Tampa Tribune writes:
The New Port Richey Public Library staff has embraced its role as trendsetter, drawing praise and bringing in patrons.

The Florida Library Association tapped New Port Richey as its Library of the Year, recognizing creativity in programming, diversity of services and innovations worth emulating....Libraries in Pasco's cooperative set a record with almost 2.1 million items circulated last year, and New Port Richey saw in excess of 37,000 more patrons and a 43 percent boost in program attendance..."Libraries are becoming more of a cultural place," said Ann Scott, events and community outreach director at the award-winning library. "You have your home and your place of work. And then there's a third place you hang out."We want to be that third place."

The city library's director, Susan Dillinger,[in red, upper right] attributes that rapid growth to the innovative programs scheduled by Scott and outgoing youth services librarian Tracey Pinto.

Superman Celebration & Lois Lane's Birthday --June 8-11, 2006--Commemorated in Metropolis!

To celebrate Noel Neill's 85th birthday, the Metropolis Chamber of Commerce is erecting a statue of Noel as "Lois Lane" on the Superman Square. This life-size bronze statue will hold a place of honor near the Superman Statue. Like the Superman Statue , personalized bricks will be used on the base and walkway.
Superman Celebration.

June 8-11, 2006.

Superman at Michigan State University Comic Art Collection.

Bush Tries to ERODE Civil rights

Most presidents work to expand Civil Rights, Bush actively works to erode them.
"President Bush this afternoon speaks out in favor of a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage.But nobody's buying it."But there will be a lot of intolerant talk.

I'm a librarian.
Librarians provide many resources:

Stonewall Book Awards

Stonewall Library and Archives

Stonewall Center at the University of Massachusetts

The 2006 Hugo Nominees

A mega-meta-review by Nicholas Whyte to reviews of every story and novel on the 2006 Hugo Award ballot.

Zola-mania

I have long wanted to read all of Zola's Les Rougon-Macquart. I was re-organizing some shelves and found a copy of Pot-Bouille I'd picked up at a used bookshop. But I haven't read it. I've read Germinal ,Nana , and L'Assommoir.

So, I decided to see if I can acquire them all from here and there. I have been unsuccessul in getting a used copy of Fortune of the Rougons so I bought one new from Amazon. I found La Curée at Alibris. As soon as Fortune of the Rougons arrives I'll get to work on Le Ventre de Paris .
I have to do something big to keep my mind from constantly despaairing over politics.