Pam Webb

a writer's journey as a reader

Archive for the category “creativity”

28 Sep 2012

The Naughty List: BB Week #4


Cover of "The Great Gatsby"

Cover of The Great Gatsby

Banned Book Week is around the corner: define your mind with censored or challenged literary lines. As you decide on additions for your next TBR you can make like Santa by checking your list to see who’s been naughty or nice.

 

  • Cover of "Their Eyes Were Watching God"
  • Cover of Their Eyes Were Watching God

 Their Eyes Were Watching God, by Zora Neale Hurston
Invisible Man, by Ralph Ellison
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
Native Son, by Richard Wright
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, by Ken Kesey
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway

The Call of the Wild, by Jack London

Go Tell it on the Mountain, by James Baldwin

  •  All the King’s Men, by Robert Penn Warren
  •  The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
  • The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair
  •  Lady Chatterley’s Lover, by D.H. Lawrence
  • A Clockwork Orange, by Anthony Burgess
  • In Cold Blood, by Truman Capote
  • The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie
  • Sophie’s Choice, by William Styron
  • Sons and Lovers, by D.H. Lawrence
  • Cat’s Cradle, by Kurt Vonnegut
  • A Separate Peace, by John Knowles
  • Naked Lunch, by William S. Burroughs
  • Brideshead Revisited, by Evelyn Waugh

    Cover of "Lord of the Flies, Educational ...

    Cover of Lord of the Flies, Educational Edition

  • Women in Love, by D.H. Lawrence
  • The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer
  • Tropic of Cancer, by Henry Miller
  •  An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser
  • Rabbit, Run, by John Updike
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26 Sep 2012

What’s Read, Black, and Blue? :BB Week #3


Cover of "Kindle Wireless Reading Device,...

Cover via Amazon

As a former librarian (who am I kidding-I’m forever a librarian at heart), I embrace books. Reading them, writing them, discussing them, critiquing them, promoting them, yet being beaten up, imprisoned, or possibly dying for them is as they say, “I don’ t remember this being in the job description.”
The following is a reblog which originally came to my attention by way of my fab librarian cohort in all things bookish (shout out to ET). Although Banned Book Week is focused on books, it is important to remember librarians are the ones who put the books on the shelves so we can get them in our hands, hearts, and minds. I salute those brave Cuban librarians, as well as all librarians who face adversity while trying to protect intellectual freedom.

Here is a partial of the Cuban librarian post and you can click on the link to read more:

Kindle Users Arrested

HAVANA, Aug. 24, 2012 (Roberto de Jesús Guerra Pérez/Hablemos Press) – On Friday the Cuban secret police pursued and arrested librarians who had attended a technology workshop at the U.S. Interests Section in Havana.

[Note by the Friends of Cuban Libraries: the Obama administration recently enacted a program to donate hi-tech equipment such as Kindle e-book readers to Cuba’s independent librarians and other activists. This move greatly expands Cubans’ access to banned materials and evades the occasional seizure of bulky printed materials carried in the luggage of volunteers arriving at Cuban airports.]

The arrests occurred in the streets adjacent to the Interests Section when the librarians, about 20 in number, were returning to their homes.

“The workshop in which we were participating was on how to use an Amazon Kindle,” commented Lázara Mijan, who was able to escape the police roundup, together with Magaly Norvis Otero and Julio Beltrán.

Among the detainees are Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna, Julio Rojas Portal and Mario Echevarría Driggs. Two Kindles were confiscated from each of the latter two persons, in addition to cameras, personal documents and user manuals for the Kindle DX….

“The police operation was big, very big. Many State Security agents were scattered in Ladas [Soviet-era cars] and motorcycles everywhere in the streets near the Interests Section; it was a miracle that some of the librarians were able to evade arrest,” said Driggs, after he was released from custody….

The Cuban regime classifies the independent librarians and dissidents as counterrevolutionaries at the service of the U.S. government. In 2003, more than 20 librarians were arrested and sentenced to prison terms of between 5 and 20 years, and their library collections were confiscated and burned.

Reblogged from PC Sweeney’s Blog:

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22 Sep 2012
10 Comments

Burn and Turn: Censored and Challenged Books/BB Week #1


What have To Kill A Mockingbird, The Awakening, Huckleberry Finn, and The Hunger Games all have in common?  Easy. Besides making the bestsellers list, they have also made the banned books list. And let’s pause this opening for a bit of clarification. Banned Book Week is actually misleading, since books aren’t technically banned anymore–they are challenged, since we all have, at least in the US of A, the ability to procure what we want to read.

Banned Book Week is the annual emphasis that occurs during the last week of September, and serves as a reminder how society, during given points and times in history, get tweaked about what is available to read.  However, it is not only in the United States that books have created ire in the powers of say so.  Read Tweak happens around the world.  For instance:

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland:  Used to be banned in the province of Hunan, China, beginning in 1931 for its portrayal of anthropomorphized animals acting on the same level of complexity as human beings. The censor General Ho Chien believed that attributing human language to animals was an insult to humans. He feared that the book would teach children to regard humans and animals on the same level, which would be “disastrous.”

Then again sometimes banning is not good enough–let’s just burn the bugger and totally purge society’s ability for intellectual discernment.  Burned books would include:

  • Ulysses, by James Joyce–Burned in the U.S. (1918)
  • The Grapes of Wrath, by John Steinbeck—Burned by the East St. Louis, IL Public Library (1939)
  • The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway–Burned in Nazi bonfires in Germany (1933)
  • Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut–Burned in Drake, ND (1973)

Although there haven’t been any recent burnings, Ray Bradbury (rest in peace, Ray, you are missed) foresaw a day when all books would be burned. Not because of poisoned opinion, offended sensibilities, or societal outrage–no, Ray thought books would be burned due to lack of interest.  Intellectual thought via the printed page would be overridden by the quest of Jello entertainment(that ubiquitous substance which has form but no true nutrition and is quite similar to most television programming). In the near future Bradbury believed it would be illegal to own or read books so the government created a mockery out the fireman and had him burn books instead of saving that which would burn.  The paradox is stunningly brilliant, which is why Bradbury and his insights will be missed.

The book I refer to is, of course, Fahrenheit 451. The delicious and sad irony is that F451 was censored for its language in order for school districts to allow it on reading lists.

This week I will be posting views, trivia, and insights about banning, censoring, and challenging intellectual matter, because it does matter.

Banned Book Week.  Read a book and challenge your brain.

Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Posted in Books, creativity, education, Reading, reviews, Uncategorized and tagged , , , , , ,
02 Aug 2012
11 Comments

Inspiration:


Inspiration.  It’s a noun that can mean:

  1. Stimulation to do creative work.
  2. Somebody or something that inspires
  3. Creativeness
  4. Good idea
  5. Divine influence
  6. Breathing in

As a synonym you’ll find:

  • Motivation
  • Stimulation
  • Encouragement
  • Muse

There is also:

  • Idea
  • Brainwave
  • Insight
  • Flash
  • Revelation

Therefore, to receive nomination for Very Inspiring Blogger causes me to pause and reflect–Do I?  Inspiration is one of those words I take seriously, which means I shall endeavor to make sure my posting are up to snuff.   Letizia passed on this nomination to me and I am quite appreciative.  Letizia is an active reader, meaning she reads whenever she can.  She is working on reading and walking at the same time–something I’m hoping to do.  Kind of like Keira Knightley in the opening of Pride and Prejudice.  Walking and reading a book combines two great loves: the outdoors and absorbing words via written page. Delicious. When I finish reading a good book, especially a wonderful book, I want to get up and run off all the stored up energy from absorbing words, ideas, and the connection of writer to reader.  So, if I could walk and read at the same time–my, that would be just about perfect.

Now, on to award requirements.  I must nominate seven blogs which inspire and then list seven things about myself:

Seven blogs: (envelope please)

1.  https://valerierlawson.wordpress.com/about/ : A YA writer, she doesn’t mind sharing her passion about writing via hot tips about the publishing scene.  I like her enthusiasm and stamina when it comes to writing.

2. http://readncook.wordpress.com/: As a teacher her honesty about the profession inspires me because she reminds me that each student is an individual person, and as a teacher I will impact that student.

3.  http://newsofthetimes.org/ :  Taking on topics of all kinds, she makes me think about issues.

4.  http://literarytiger.wordpress.com/ : She freely admits judging a book by its cover.  We’ve had fun keeping up on our reading lists.

5.  http://eagleeyededitor.wordpress.com/ : Another reader of merit.  She mixes it up topic-wise and I always enjoy her witty comments and replies.

6. http://pastorjeffcma.wordpress.com/author/pastorjeffcma/ : Pastor Jeff is willing to freely discuss his faith and issues in an open and engaging manner.

7.  http://shelovesreading.wordpress.com/author/lauralovesreading/ : A self-professed bookworm, she reminds me that rereading old treasures is a pursuit of happiness.

As for seven things about me:

1.  Adore snoozing in my backyard hammock on a middling to warm day with a bit of breeze wisping about

2.  Love old Hollywood: the Hepburns, Cary Grant, Gary Cooper, Gregory Peck…

3. I read picture books when no one is looking.

4.  Eating raspberries as I pick them fresh off the vine on a summer morning is the best way to start a day, in my opinion

5.  Playing badminton is THE way to spend a summer evening

6.  Do not put cucumbers in my salad, thank you very much

7. Blogging has become a tempered addiction for me

Posted in Awards, Blogging, Books, creativity, Reading, summer, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged , , , , ,
20 Jul 2012
8 Comments

Word Collecting


I collect words.  If possible I would display them in petite glass bell jars all about my house.  That would be cruel, though, since words are not meant to be imprisoned–they are meant to be freely used and must flap their serifs (I imagine them in Times Roman font) to be useful.

As I’ve collected words I’ve made use of them as a writer (you never know when defenestration will come in handy, eh, Eagle Eyed Editor?), as a reader (a wide vocabulary comes in handy when reading off the AP suggestion list), and as a teacher (“if I learned it, so can you”).  Words also help spice up conversations–yet, I must use them judiciously so as not to appear as a smarty-pants.

Fun stuff I’ve done with words:

Trivia Quiz: Words and Symbols

Wordles

Poems, Stories, Puzzles, Interviews–Writing, Writing, Writing

Vocabulary Games–Question 3:

►What are the four words in the English language that end in “-dous”?

And I search off the Internet:

25 Everyday Words You Never Knew Had A Name

Words.

Don’t leave home without them.

Try ’em, you’ll like ’em.

Take your favorite word to lunch.

Have you hugged a word today?

Words have a power all their own

Words have a power all their own (Photo credit: Lynne Hand)

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01 Jul 2012
2 Comments

Writerly Wisdom III


Similes

Similes (Photo credit: teotwawki)

A metaphor is like a simile.Author Unknown

I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done. Steven Wright

image: bombsite.com


Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you.Marsha Norman

image: louisville.edu


Be obscure clearly.E.B. White

E B White quote

E B White quote (Photo credit: ktylerconk)


The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.Gustave Flaubert

Gustave Flaubert

Gustave Flaubert (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers. Isaac Asimov

The Best Mysteries of Isaac Asimov

The Best Mysteries of Isaac Asimov (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


I love words. I love to sing them and speak them and even now, I must admit, I have fallen into the joy of writing them.

Anne Rice

Anne Rice

Anne Rice (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Words, once they are printed, have a life of their own. Carol Burnett

The Carol Burnett Show

The Carol Burnett Show (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


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Posted in Blogging, Books, creativity, Reading, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged , , , , , , , ,
06 Jun 2012
6 Comments

Farewell to Ray Bradbury


cover by Tom Canty of a reprint edition

Photo of Ray Bradbury.
Photo of Ray Bradbury. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ray Bradbury. I discovered him back in college, maybe even in high school.  I devoured his books and reread Dandelion Wine, always wondering why it hasn’t transferred to film like so many of his other stories.  His stories and books are part of my teaching curriculum.  His effortless way with imagery and metaphor are sterling examples I held up to my students as exemplars.  I show his Ray Bradbury Theater episodes in Creative Writing, Freshmen English, Sophomore English, and plan to study his Farenheit 51 in AP Senior English.  I have savored the notion Bradbury has  somewhat been a co-teacher in my classroom. 

Ray Bradbury was and is a favorite author, not so much for his outstanding stories, but for his youthful outlook.  After showing some of his interview clips to students they appreciated his writing that much more.  “He’s a pretty cool guy.” High praise from a fifteen year old.

So, this is farewell, for now, Ray.  Your books and stories, dreams, and innovations and imagination will live on in your words.

Ray Bradbury

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06 Jun 2012
7 Comments

The ABC’s of Blog Maintenance


Like cars, blogs require basic maintenance in order to perform at their best.  There’s analogy in that statement I could pursue about oil and air pressure relating to tags and categories, but I’m not sure I can pull it off.

I think I need to add a disclaimer about this post: I am still very much a blogger newbie.  It is not my intention to offend anyone.  It is also not my intention to come off sounding like a know-it-all-bloggy pants (especially when my hits and follower stats aren’t at huge impressive numbers…yet).  I simply felt compelled to share some observations and what better way than through the trite and true method of ABC-ing.

American Broadcasting Company

American Broadcasting Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

*I am at the virtual podium*

CM: ahem…thank you for stopping by.  Some of you may be veteran bloggers of a million followers and quadrillion hits, while others of are just getting started.  And some of you might be in between those extremes.  Here are some basic ABCs of blogging.

A is for appreciate.  Stop by other blogs and comment, click “like”, or simply browse the site.  No one wants to write in a void, and everyone appreciates a bit of appreciation.

A is also for advertise.  Toss out a kudo about another blogger’s post through your writing, via one of those nifty blogger awards, or even link up another post through a Zemanta click.

Blogging Heroes

Blogging Heroes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

B is broadening your scope.  You might have started your blog with only one subject in mind (the wonders of bottle cap collecting, for instance).  Why not launch out and discuss how bottles came to be invented or include a craft article on bottle cap wind chimes?  Broadening your blog content can attract new readers.

Bottle Caps

Bottle Caps (Photo credit: merfam)

C can be for connecting and contributing and customizing.  Connecting is all about developing relationships with other bloggers, creating a bit of cyberspace friending (sans Zuckerman, thank you).  Contributing is commenting and replying to posts, adding your two-cents and maybe even a dollar’s worth to a topic.  Finally let’s cut to customizing, that need to get your style thing going.  As you continue posting establish a voice, tone, persona for your blog.  Find your niche–are you witty, eccentric, knowledgeable, graphically inclined, inspiring?  Your followers will look forward to the character you give your posts.

There are many other important components to blog maintenance.  These simple ABCs are only a start.

Thank you for your time.

*slight nod of head in acknowledgement*

Happy Pages

and Happy Blogging

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20 May 2012
2 Comments

Nifty Fifty


Ta-dah! This marks my fiftieth post and to commemorate the event here are some random fifty trivia bits.

1.  This weekend my community celebrates Lost in the Fifties.  It’s a weekend where people dress up in poodle skirts and 501’s and saddle shoes and watch a parade of old-time cars go by.  There’s a street dance and a big dance at the fairgrounds with bands that are mock-fifty era sounding.  Doesn’t sound like much, but it’s a biggie for tourist bucks.  We even showed American Graffiti at the local stage theatre.

designerjet.com

2.  Of the fifty United States I’ve only been to about seven.  Does airport transfers count?  Then make it about a dozen.

statecountymaps.com

Image Detail

flicker.com

3.  I don’t like weather colder than the fifties.  Forty-five is pushing my comfort zone.

writerleagueoftexas.wordpress.com

4.  If I could name my top favorite fifty books I would have to say To Kill a Mockingbird remains close to the top as my favorite reread.  Which is saying something since I teach just about every year to ninth graders.

5.  Should I set out to gather fifty quotes about reading, writing, and books I would include these gems:

  • The best time for planning a book is while you’re doing the dishes. Agatha Christie
  • The desire to write grows with writing. Desiderius Erasmus
  •  My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living. Anais Nin
  •  If the writing is honest it cannot be separated from the man who wrote it.Tennessee Williams
  •  The first step in blogging is not writing them but reading them. Jeff Jarvis
  •  I’m writing a book. I’ve got the page numbers done. Steven Wright
  •  Dreams are illustrations from the book your soul is writing about you.Marsha Norman
  •  Be obscure clearly.E.B. White
  • The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.Gustave Flaubert
  •  Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers. Isaac Asimov

6.  Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover is one of Paul Simon’s songs that tends to loop in my brain now and then.Image Detail
7.  I figure I read over fifty books a year, between reviewing them, teaching them, and pleasure-reading them.  I dunno–is that average for a Book Booster?
Oh, hey–this also counts for my seven facts about me as part of the Versatile Blogger Award requirements.  Thanks Literary Tiger!
And a thanks also to merlinspielen.com for the One Lovely Blog Award.  Who knew turning Fifty could be so fulfilling?
Posted in Awards, Blogging, Books, creativity, Movies, Reading, reviews, Teachers, Uncategorized, Writing and tagged , , , ,
05 May 2012
10 Comments

#3: Picture Books Are for Any Age!


“What do you write?” is a question often traded at a writer’s conference.  My answer is usually an embarrassed “everything.” It’s true.  I write middle grade, YA, adult, poems, non-fiction, plays, book reviews–I like to write!  My favorite genre, the one I no doubt have spent the most time on, is picture books.

There is something incandescently, transcendentally, most amazingly wonderful  when it comes to experiencing a picture book.  They are even better when shared with a child.  I don’t mind reading them on my own.  Oh, picture books are only for kids?  Is that a bona fide rule?

Moving on with my Cricket List: Musings of a Voracious Reader, I decided to tackle my #3: Picture Books.This is a tough one because it could go on from here until next Tuesday because I have so many favorites.  I could probably start entire blog about picture books.  So instead of a list I am posting thumbnail covers of picture books read, admired, reread, find timeless, find amazing, and want to share with the world. Barnes and Noble supplied the images.

Enjoy!

Click, Clack, Moo Tacky The Penguin If You Give A Mouse A Cookie The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate The Wash The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales Sheep In A Jeep Book Cover Image. Title: On the Night You Were Born, Author: by Nancy Tillman Book Cover Image. Title: The Story of Ferdinand, Author: by Munro Leaf Book Cover Image. Title: Make Way for Ducklings, Author: by Robert McCloskey Book Cover Image. Title: The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Author: by Eric Carle Book Cover Image. Title: Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, Author: by Judith Viorst Book Cover Image. Title: The Quiet Book, Author: by Deborah Underwood

 Goodnight Moon (Board Book) Mr. Brown Can Moo! Can You? Happy Birthday to You! Caps for Sale: A Tale of a Peddler, Some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business Chicka Chicka Boom BoomOpposites Frog and Toad All Year (I Can Read Book Series: Level 2) One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish Harold and the Purple Crayon (50th Anniversary Edition) The Runaway Bunny   Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel  Corduroy  Guess How Much I Love You Moo, Baa, La La La! The Little Engine That Could Mouse Paint I Am a Bunny It Looked Like Spilt Milk Little Bear's Friend (I Can Read Book Series: A Level 1 Book) Leo the Late Bloomer Jesse Bear, What Will You Wear? Blueberries for Sal (Picture Puffin Books Series) Stone Soup Little Gorilla Lap Board Book Harry the Dirty Dog Good Dog, Carl (Classic Board Books Series) Prayer for a Child Whistle for Willie

Tree Is Nice Andy and the Lion Windows with Birds The Snowy Day

This is only a thimble’s worth in the sea of picture book reads.  I stopped at page 15 of Barnes and Noble’s picture book list.  Feel free to browse on your own.  And  make sure to pop a couple of picture books in your basket when shopping at your local library or bookstore.  Picture books are forever.

Posted in Blogging, Books, children, creativity, Reading, reviews and tagged , , , , , , ,

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