Because it’s true, schools really are political places:

It was from one of my editors, when I worked at the university newspaper. and once he realized that i loved every single one of these songs even more than he did… he said…

“Awww, Nancy, just go on and keep it, cuz at least you were honest about it.”

And… the thief is rewarded for her honesty, once again.

Here’s a partial songlist, I’ll add more as they come to me (naw, they’re not in the same order they were on the tape):

“The Race is On, “George Jones (not the stinkin’ Grateful Dead version, bleeeeeeeeeech)

a bunch of nasty songs by Bessie Smith that were sooooooooo good. (these ones don’t show up on YouTube, sorry ;)

“Milk Cow Blues” and “Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer)”, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys

“I Couldn’t Believe it Was True,” Willie Nelson

“Crazy” and/or “Walking After Midnight” (can’t remember for sure), Patsy Cline

“Bartender’s Blues,” by George Jones

“Take This Job and Shove It,” by Johnny Paycheck

“My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It,” Hank Williams

“If You Got the Money,” by Merle Haggard

more stinkin’ books:

On the coffeetable:

I’m sneaking in a few book reviews here and there, and some light reading, too, but the sad reality is I have too many bigass textbooks right now to do much of anything “extra.” Now I can see that this is why I put off grad school for so long. Goodbye, free time. (And when you’re a mom, working inside or outside of the home, an artist, writer, knitter, person who volunteers, someone who enjoys eating something other than pizza… shoot. Who has free time, even without university on top of it all?)

Blaze Ginsberg (son of writer Debra Ginsberg) is a young adult who has autism. “Episodes: My Life as I See It” (Roaring Brook Press, New York, 2009, $16.99, 274 pages) is his story. It’s good and it’s unlike anything else I have ever read on the topic. I especially like the way the book is formatted in the style that Ginsberg interprets thoughts, memories, stories. It’s stream-of-consciousness, it’s how he sees thing, and he takes his readers along for the ride. Nice work.

“The Long Secret,” by Louise Fitzhugh (Harper & Row Publishers, New York, 1965, 275 pages), is the highly-underrated sequel to “Harriet the Spy.” It’s one of my all-time favorites and homework be damned — I’m going to finish it this afternoon. OK, I’m doing some homework first, but Harriet, you are my girl. Thanks for always being there for me.

“Boy,” said Harriet, “how love can poison the mind. Listen, I’m going to come around here even more. This is such a big place, they obviously get more notes; so that note leaver will have to be here more often.”

Beth Ellen nodded sappily, her eyes never leaving Bunny for a minute.

“The Day Leo Said I Hate You,” by Robie H. Harris, illustrated by Molly Bang (Little, Brown and Company, New York, Boston, unpaged, $16.99) is a brand-new release. (You may remember Molly Bang from her classic picture book, “When Sophie Gets Angry — Really, Really Angry…”) This one is a really good picture book for the little hotheads in your life.

Happy Saturday!

— wm

“So difficult it is to show the various meanings and imperfections of words when we have nothing else but words to do it with.” — John Locke, philosopher (1632-1704)

My favorite essay I’ve ever written on the subject of chores.

“The day is coming when a single carrot freshly observed will set off a revolution.”

— Paul Cezanne

(Anne T. i love you.)

— wm

that’s it.

xo

wm

“Pedagogy. From the Greek roots “to lead a child (pais: child & ago: to lead).”

writing a five-page paper. two pages down.

the end.