Friday Round Up

Ever since I was forced to except the new form of blogger I have been having problems posting images so please bear with me. (typepad keeps looking better and better). I also don't know what is going on with blogger today in that it doesn't SEEM TO KNOW WHAT PARAGRAPHS ARE. Once again, typepad, typepad, typepad.

Esquire magazine sent out 250 paper napkins to writers all over the country and got back nearly a hundred stories.

I was shocked, but not really surprised to find out that there is not a single library in the entire First Nations community in the province of Manitoba. Richard Menec has come up with a great idea-The Log Library Project.


As much as I love libraries, I'm not sure I would like to smell like one.

A friend passed on this link. I had never read the blog Gaping Void, but it's one of my friends favorites and now I can see why. Gaping Void has written a manifesto on creativity. I started reading it and realized it's not just about creativity, it's also about all aspects of life. It's long, but well worth the read. Thanks K.


I thought that I had heard of most of the book awards, but I came across the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award the other day. The Anisfield-Wolf Book Award recognizes books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism or our appreciation of the rich diversity of human cultures. The awards, which are administered by The Cleveland Foundation, are given out each year. The award was named after Cleveland poet-activist Edith Anisfield Wolf.

A published poet and activist Ms. Wolf used literature as a means to investigate racial prejudice and celebrate diversity. She founded the award 35 years before the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education court decision. The award was once known as the Black Pulitzer. Zora Neale Thurston, Stephen Carter, and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King have been honored with this award. 2007 honorees are British novelist Zadie Smith for On Beauty, novelist William Demby for his life's work and Harvard historian Jill Lepore for New York Burning.

I remember the first time I ever tasted Marmite. I was expecting something so hideous I had a glass of apple juice ready as a chaser. I was quite surprised to find out I liked it. Now there's Guiness Marmite. (via Coolest Gadgets)

I came across a bed and breakfast blog the other day. I have always wanted to have a bed and breakfast and I get ga-ga whenever I start reading about them. Fish Creek House is located in Whitehall, Montana. Here is the blog. I am going to try out their recipe for No Bake Peanut Butter Oat Cookies. I have been making these cookies since I was in 2nd grade, but this recipe calls for healthy, vegan ingredients so I am going to give it a try.

Next Thursday (March 1st) is the start of the DC Independent Film Festival. Over 100 films will be shown over 11 days. This year's festival is going "green" by working to reduce CO2 emissions during festival operations. The venue is the University of the District of Columbia (UDC).

So you're looking for a gift and you decide on jewelry. Why not purchase some ecologically responsible bling? greenCarat uses recycled gold to make new jewelry. We all are aware of the tremendous toll gold mining takes on the Earth, not just by literally ripping the earth apart, but the horrid mining corporations have unleashed tons of pollution, mercury and cyanide to name two, into the Earth's atmosphere. greenCarat is committed to ending destructive gold mining and diamond mining practices.

Have a nice weekend.

"I used to walk to school with my nose buried in a book." Coolio

The greatest gift is the passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination. Elizabeth Hardwick