Saturday, September 27, 2008

Dr. Seuss for President

Why not?

The Knotty Problem

Part of the Dr. Seuss for President exhibit currently at the Syd Entel Gallery in Safety Harbor.

("I like your town," my middle grandson said. "It's got neat stuff in it -- not like ugly nothing." This after we toured the one-room exhibit and the adjoining Susan Benjamin art glass gallery, walked out onto the local pier, played by the marina fountain with bronze birds in flight, visited the massive Baranoff live oak and an artwork of bronze children playing in a mosaic stream -- all within three blocks of each other.)

Back to Dr. Seuss, the nom de plume of Theodore Geisel who started his career as a political cartoonist.

Not coming to your area? Click on the link to the Dr. Suess Art Web site so you can browse for yourself. Sorry -- no pier or glass gallery on the Web site. You'll just have to come and visit sometime!

Monday, September 22, 2008

Every Living Thing . . .

...is the title of one of James Herriot's many books about his lifetime doctoring farm animals and pets in Yorkshire, England.

I came across this paperback while cleaning out cupboards and closets this past week. I don't remember how it got in the laundry basket full of yard goods -- and, no, that doesn't mean potting soil, cultivators, and petunias -- shoved in the back of my clothes closet waiting for desire and opportunity to merge under the needle of my sewing machine . . . which is shoved under the bottom shelf of a bathroom closet.

Nor do I remember how I acquired Herriot's book. No matter.

Suffice it to say not as many closets got cleaned out as intended. Instead I savored Herriot's stories of colicky horses and persnickety cats, of staid farmers and eccentric assistants.

Mainly I marveled at how neatly Herriot told his stories. Swift incision inserting the reader immediately into the scene, exploratory rambles among the inner relationships between man and beast, then out the same way as in, stitched neatly closed with a pithy observation or tug-at-your-heart thought.

You say you've already read them?

Oh, go ahead. Read them again. Some things are just as good the second time around.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

High School Journalism Standards

Censorship, under the euphemism "prior review," may be the most blatant threat to high school journalism programs. The most insidious threat, however, may be how journalism courses are classified by state departments of education.

Here are a couple of entries I posted recently to the Poynter Institute of Media Studies' Journalism Education blog. Poynter, a non-profit organization that owns the St. Petersburg Times, is a resource center for journalists.

Florida J Classes May Lose Practical Art Credit Status

Indiana J Programs Get Major Boost

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Whaddaya Think?

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