He was shortish. And oldish. And brownish. And mossy. And he spoke with a voice that was sharpish and bossy.

My absolute favorite children's book of all time is being made into a full-length animated film.  Its plot and message were almost singlehandedly the basis for my curriculum as a science teacher.  It contains powerful and insightful lessons for not only children, but all of us.

The Lorax will be out sometime in 2012 and will feature the voice of none other than Danny Devito.  I couldn't have dreamed up a better fit myself.

Counting the days until I can introduce MY LITTLE BOY to this gift from Dr. Seuss.

Oh Brother

1)  I am so thankful I am not a high school student.
2) I feel sorry for those unlucky souls who are.
3) This is ridiculous.  I would characterize this under one of our incredibly stupid (and unbelievably expensive) American traditions. Barf.

Treme

I don't often get excited about television, but The Wire was more than a TV show to me.  It was brilliant social commentary.  Set in Baltimore and supported by a cast of locals (many of whom hadn't acted before), it told the reality of life not only in Baltimore, but in our country as a whole.  Each season morphed around a few central social issues - politics, poverty, public education, drugs, ports and international trade, class divisions, human trafficking, the media and its effect on society, racism, and gentrification.  One of the writers, David Simon, wrote for the Baltimore Sun before creating the series, so there's truth to the storylines. 

So when I heard The Wire's creators had begun shooting a new series two years ago, I couldn't contain my enthusiasm.  Since then, I've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of Treme.

Treme is set in the New Orleans neighborhood of the same name a few months after Hurricane Katrina.  It follows the lives of mostly musicians, but people from all walks of life as they struggle to put the pieces back together after the hurricane.  As with The Wire, the producers cast many locals.  There are also well-known New Orleanians such as Kermit Ruffians and John Goodman.  (Elvis Costello also makes a guest appearance in the premiere!)

I don't have cable, but I found the premiere online and I'm very excited to see how the storylines unfold.  Many of my family members lost their homes during Katrina, and from their experiences, Treme seems to be doing a good job of hitting on the difficulties they faced.

Teabonics

I love this Flickr gallery of Tea Party signs with "creative spelling and grammar."   Here are a few good ones.

And I'm sorry, but you can't take back Amercia because it doesn't exist.

I wish I was still a teacher because my students would have loved these in Language Arts class.  This is why you stay in school, kids!

Heaven

Alphabet Soup

I've been married for 2.5 months now, and I'm still tackling the name change issue. I've known for a very long time that I want to keep my birth name as a part of my married name. I love the history behind the name Sembera and its rarity in the US. I love that one can google my name and know that everything written about Megan Sembera is about me. (Good thing there are no skeletons in my closet.) I like that a hyphenated last name will provide me with some professional continuity. Finally, I love the symbolism of a hyphenated last name - not a changeover of families but a merging of the two.

But the internet is scaring me. Apparently many people who hyphenate regret it down the line. Some computers don't recognize the hyphen as a character, banks and credit card companies have a hard time getting it right, women lament the problem of characters and fitting a lengthy last name into required field. Ahh!

My other option is to make Sembera my middle name and lose Alison, my current middle name. This makes me a bit sad though as my parents went through much deliberation to name me Megan Alison, and I even went by Alison for a short time in grade school when Megan became too common. Alas, my heart wants to be Megan Alison Sembera-Peters. I'm giving myself a deadline of 24 more hours....stay tuned for the oh-so-exciting final decision :)

Really??

This TWO THOUSAND NINE Dockers ad really pushes my buttons. Some ad man's been fantasizing about the Mad Men days too much.


Here's a redo and commentary that feels a little more accurate.

$ign of the Times

While we are not the only such culture, Americans are widely known for our need for instant gratification. The other American stereotype (that often goes hand-in-hand) is our ultraconsumption and widespread occurrence of living beyond our means. Of course we're seeing this played out with our current financial crisis.

I read today that Annie Leibovitz, the iconic photographer, is $24,000,000 in debt. I'm a fairly big fan of her work and I really was shocked to learn how a person so successful in her professional affairs can still live a false reality when it comes to finances. Here's the link to the excellent New York Magazine article about Annie's predicament:

http://nymag.com/fashion/09/fall/58346/

I stand firm in my belief that financial education classes should be compulsory components of public high school and college education.

Willie by Annie Leibovitz

Snapshots of France and England

Chris and I returned from France and England this afternoon with thousands of photos and videos to remember our fun two weeks. I made a pact with myself on the plane that I would not TOUCH my photos until I hand in my final term paper of graduate school, which is due next Monday (and is currently non-existent). I've already let myself down by playing with my photos today, but this is it -- now it's really down to business!

Here are some of the non tourist-standing-in-front-of-a-monument shots. Trust me, there are plenty of those to go around too. Enjoy! More to come in a few weeks.

Girl posing for the cover of Vogue magazine, Kensington Palace, London

Swing dancers, Kensington Palace, London

Breakdancing rollerbladers, Hyde Park, London

Local sweets, Salisbury, England

Lovers in Paris

Le Tour Eiffel, Paris

Hitching a ride, Paris

Composer in City Hall, Manchester

Boys in a limo, London

Lady Hare and cathedral, Bath

Main Street, Salisbury

The London Eye

Watching sunset from The Eye, London

A grand entrance, Paris

Momma and babies, Hyde Park, London

Race in America, 2008

NPR just completed a great series on race in the 2008 election called The York Project. They interviewed a group of people of all races and backgrounds living in York, Pennsylvania (a battle ground state that ultimately chose Obama) over the past few months about their experiences with race and how they affected their voting choices. The series wrapped up on the air this morning, when the participants shared their voting choices, but also what election day meant to them, regardless of who they voted for.

I've been following the series since September, but this morning's segment was especially notable to me. The participants touched on the feeling of celebration among everyone on election day, including McCain voters. One McCain voter noted that even though she was sad because he didn't win, she felt joy over the "social justice" that was won that day. A Black participant talked about wanting to buy an American flag for the first time in her life. The moderators asked if anyone felt "left out" by the outcome, and everyone said no.

Leah, a 76 year old McCain supporter who previously expressed worries that Obama is secretly a Muslim and terrorist, let her guard down when she discussed his first press conference. She said she thought Obama's calling himself a "mutt" (when discussion the family's ideal choice for a pet) was comical and she enjoyed it. This was the same woman who said there "might be chaos" if O were elected, and here she is now, chuckling about his mixed heritage.

Here's the main page, where you can listen to all segments of The York Project.

Portraits, backgrounds, and audio excerpts from each of the participants.

Photo gallery of York, Pennsylvania.

Chicago's The Wiener Circle

I came across this clip last week, and it's been haunting me since then. I don't have time now to digest all of the thoughts that have been running through my head, but I know it has really affected me and at some point I'd like to sort all of these thoughts out. I also want to note that the person who posted this to YouTube added the beginning statement "This is what Chi-town is all about" and certainly the This American Life producers don't endorse that view.

Judge for yourself.

This American Life, Season 1: The Wiener Circle