For those of you who are new, on November 1st I will begin writing my 8th novel.
That’s right. I’m an Author. Published? Who cares about that, yo. I’m in it for the excitement, for the challenge, for the camraderie—
—for the caffeine!
(Yeah, I was writing this huge post about how awesome NaNo is and What It Means To Me, but then I put down my coffee cup and went “Um, seriously? I’ve got two NaNoWriMo cups on my desk at work right this minute? NEW PUNCHLINE!)
…and I spend it sleeping.
And coughing.
I have many stories to regale you with. I just need to stay awake long enough to do it.
Dear Vino Vixens:
I have been a fan since last year’s NaNoWriMo.
After you so graciously hosted my Birthday Party: Portland Edition, I am now a fan forever. Your staff was gracious, wonderful, and knowledgeable about the wines.
My friends were all amazed, which was partially the reason I held it there. Because I know you will always be gracious, wonderful and knowledgeable, and wanted to share that with as many people as possible. I hope the stories the attendees bring back encourage as many people as possible to visit you at 2929 SE Powell Blvd # 2, next to Acme Donuts, across from Hopworks Urban Brewery (HUB)*.
Thank you for making my 30th Birthday Celebration: Portland Edition a memorable event, for myself and my guests. This was, honestly and truthfully, the first birthday party I’ve had since I was 12 years old. After this, I do believe it will become an annual event.
Love forever,
Mary Sue
*Harhar! See how Googleable I made it!
Why I Like Glee, by Mary Sue Renfrow
1. I like it because the portrayal of the teachers and the principals is congruent with my own experience in public education. The romantic and political entanglements, along with the slightly off personalities rings true, and makes me laugh.
2. I like it because the portrayal of the caste system of the students reminds me of my own time in high school. Although I was not in show choir.
3. I LIKE IT BECAUSE THEY SING AND DANCE! A LOT! LIKE, ALL THE TIME! YAYAYAAAAAY!
I’ve been informed that FOX has been promoting this show liek woah, but since I don’t have broadcast TV, I had to find out the slow way.
It is AMAZING and WONDERFUL and this link will take the USAdians to Hulu.com where you can watch it.
Or YouTubers can watch this extended trailer.
It might be quiet around here until the end of September. I’m doing a lot of working and a lot of traveling and a lot of studying for a class that I’m taking because I want to (which means I have never studied this much for a class IN MY LIFE and that does include graduate school).
But before I go, let me just say that I did stop by @TheBeermongers on Tuesday. Here’s a review from It’s Pub Night.
What did I think? I think the prices were pretty good, it’s on my bus line home, and the selection was fairly eclectic.
Dear God,
Thank you for waiting to invent YouTube until I’d done my undergrad and graduate work.
Love,
Mary Sue
I love Leverage.
If you haven’t figured this out yet, you’re slow.
I love it so much, that I have not yet played “How Lazy Were The Set Dressers” and delineated all the IKEA items used by the set dressers (cough*nate’sentirekitchen*cough).
But The Iceman Job? IT IS TEMPTING ME.
It came out in PDF. Which sucks.
Anyway, here are some of my favorites that wound up on the list:
Bowden, Mark. Black Hawk Down: A Story of Modern War. Atlantic Monthly Pr. Removed from a classroom at Central Lafourche High School in Raceland, La. (2008) for violating the district policy on cursing. The book is the story of a failed Special Forces mission in Somalia.
I wonder how many of the kids in that district are going into the military?
Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World. Harper. Retained in the Coeur D’Alene, Idaho School District (2008) despite objections that the book has too many references to sex and drug use.
I don’t like Brave New World, because it scares the crap out of me. It scares the crap out of me because I can see many, many parallels between Huxley’s future and our media-driven, pop culture worshipping life. The drug use and sex is not glamourized, but is indicative of the society’s decay. And now that I sound like Fox News, NEXT BOOK!
Heinlein, Robert A. The Day After Tomorrow. Signet. Removed from the Beardstown, Ill. High School library (2008). A parent requested its removal and a committee determined the novel “rather very adult in nature” and, because the library already had a large selection of other valuable science fiction and spy literature, the committee elected to remove the book from the high school’s circulation and donated it to the public library.
Dear Beardstown, Ill. High School committee: Fuck you. The book’s main theme is about defeating racism and oppression. Fuck you, you fucking fucks. No love, Mary Sue.
Lee, Harper. To Kill a Mockingbird. Lippincott/ Harper; Popular Library. Retained in the Englishcurriculum by the Cherry Hill, N.J. Board of Education (2007). A resident had objected to the novel’s depiction of how blacks are treated by members of a racist white community in an Alabama town during the Depression. The resident feared the book would upset black children reading it.
And next, this resident is going to object to history books having information on the Civil Rights Movement because black children are going to be upset that America hasn’t done enough to guarantee their rights since that time. I wonder if this resident wants to ban Bill O’Reilly, too, because he makes President Obama upset about being black.
This one pisses me off to no end. I love this book, because my mother loved this book. Shoot, her dog’s name is Scout.
Walker, Alice. The Color Purple. Harcourt. Challenged in Burke County schools in
Morgantown, N.C. (2008) by parents concerned about the homosexuality, rape, and incest portrayed in the book.
Because that never happens in Morgantown, N.C., I betcha. Bite me, Burke County parents.
Meyer, Stephenie H. Twilight Series. Little. Removed from and later reinstated in the middle school libraries of the Capistrano, Calif. Unified School District (2008). The books were initially ordered removed by the district’s instructional materials specialist, who ordered that the books be moved from middle school to high school collections. That order was rescinded and the books remain in the middle school libraries. Challenged at the Brockbank Junior High in Magna, Utah (2009), by a parent over sexual content in the Mormon author’s fourth novel, Breaking Dawn.
Surprised I’m highlighting these books? Let me explain why: the books are trash. They are utterly useless, promote girls to forego all their dreams and desires if a man loves them, and generally make me throw up in my mouth. But if it’s between taking these books out of a school library or having a child who doesn’t read pick one up because everyone keeps talking about it, I’m 100% going with aiding and abetting a child’s love of reading.
People who read this blog are aware that I love beer.
A lesser-known fact is that I also love root beer. Can’t get enough of the stuff.
Now ThinkGeek has sourced caffinated root beer, I’m in heaven.
Of course, with shipping it’s $20 for a 4-pack. Friday is payday, I’m debating it.
Buried deep in this article about Ben and Jerry’s celebration of Vermont’s legalization of gay marriage (not union, MARRIAGE kids, MARRIAGE YAY!) by renaming for a short while “Chubby Hubby” to “Hubby Hubby” is the following quote:
But the name change is giving gay-marriage opponents an ice cream headache. “It’s a bad idea, especially because I think they’re just doing it to rub it in that Vermont has legalized gay marriage,” said Brian Camenker of [some damnfool anti-love organization I don't need Google linking me to].
Naw, really? Ya think? Like the way your damnfool anti-love organization celebrated the passage of California’s Prop. 8?
Turnabout is fair play, yo.
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