The Bookivore’s Dilemma

I am supposed to go to a dinner party tonight.  I am making this soup, and it is already bubbling happily away on the stove.

But the library just called, and the book I requested is waiting for me at the desk.  This one.

Do you suppose anyone would notice if I sent Husband to the party with the soup and stayed home to read by the fire?

The World Was Watching – Today’s Newspapers


Tuesday night, after most of my 7th grade students had gone to bed, history happened. 

Whether you supported Barack Obama for President or not, it is difficult to dispute that his election speaks volumes about how far we have come as a nation in terms of Civil Rights.  In my classroom, we looked at how newspapers around the world covered our election here in America.  Click here to see some front pages that showed up on news stands all over the world Wednesday morning. Be patient; this is a cool site, and a lot of people are visiting it today, so you may need to keep trying to access it.

(Note to other teachers & parents: I downloaded the images I wanted from this site and used them, with credit, in a SmartBoard presentation. Because newspaper content varies a lot from country to country, there are sometimes images on this site you wouldn’t want to share live with  your classes. )

My Spanish speakers helped translate the articles about the first African American in "la Casa Blanca."  We talked about the Paris newspaper that ran an editorial on its front page with the interesting headline "America has Returned."   You don’t need to speak another language to understand the one-word headline, "Historico!"  The students commented on that one over and over again.

But my favorite classroom conversation started when the kids checked out a newspaper from Barcelona.  On the front page was an image of an African American man, but it wasn’t Barack Obama.  It was Martin Luther King, Jr.  We talked about the Civil Rights Movement as a long, long road and noted that even MLK might not have imagined the scene in Chicago’s Grant Park.  One of the girls at the front table nodded, looking up at the image of King on the screen and said quietly,  "It was like he was there last night, too."

I VOTED! A Voices and Votes Celebration

This morning, when it was still dark, my kids and I walked to the neighborhood community center that serves as our polling place.  On the way there, we talked about how voter turnout today will likely be higher than in any modern election.  Seven-year-old E, scuffing her feet through the leaves along the curb, wanted to know what that meant.

"That more people who are allowed to vote will actually show up and vote today," I told her.

She stopped.  "You mean some of them don’t?"

We talked about countries where things are different, where the right to vote is much newer and never taken for granted.  And then we turned the corner to the park and said hello to the election volunteers who had just unlocked the door.   I was the fourth person in line to vote.  

One of the things I love about Election Day is the way it brings us all together. As promised…here’s my celebration of all of our VOICES AND VOTES — a picture of me outside the polling place next to the playground.  You can see the light is on inside.  There’s just one voting machine — the old-fashioned kind where you pull the levers.  It will be replaced by a new, electronic one next year, but today, pulling the lever was just right.  

By the time we walked back home this morning, it was getting light. 

It’s time to get the rest of the day going now – time to get the boy to jazz band and the girl to school, time for me to teach revision strategies for personal narratives.  But this hopeful feeling?  I’m keeping it with me all day long.

I’m not alone in enjoying my moment at the polls today…not by a long shot. Visit these bloggers and citizens…a whole collection of us, celebrating our VOICES AND VOTES with stories & photos online.

I’m not alone in enjoying my moment at the polls today…not by a long shot. Visit these bloggers and citizens…a whole collection of us, celebrating our VOICES AND VOTES with stories & photos online.

kimmiepoppins  blogs about voting…and how lucky we are.
kellyrfineman  voted and posted a poem that says it all.
jmammaywrites  voted in Florida today.
Kurtis Scaletta shares some images from his trip to the polls.
maryecronin  voted and then ate pancakes to celebrate!
madrobins  went to the polls with her 18-year-old daughter – a first time voter!
seaheidi  shares her voting story and her voting outfit.
missrodeo  shares pictures of her early morning trip to the polls.
goadingthepen  voted early today, too.
cynthialord  talks about the need for us to be extraordinary on Election Day.
halseanderson  voted by absentee ballot before her book tour.
newport2newport voted early and shared her thoughts on the election today.
elspeth47  stood in line to vote in Texas.
janni  voted in Arizona this morning.
vivaler  talks about changing…from a non-voter to a voter.
jbknowles  voted and feels big and strong now (me too, Jo!)
jeannineatkins  was voter #273 at her town hall.
pdlloyd  enjoyed the sense of community in voting.
lurban  voted today and invites  you to share your favorite part of voting.
jamarattigan  stepped out of the kitchen today to vote!
lillpluta  voted with her homeschooled son today.
thunderchikin  talks about voting with a sense of hope.
kbaccellia  shares her thoughts on tough choices.
wordsrmylife  is celebrating high voter turnout.
marsha_brantley  voted early and blogged about it today.
writerross  voted with tears in her eyes.

And my mom, artist gailschirmer  voted  (I suspect Dad did, too, but wasn’t as eager to be photographed…) after volunteering to make lunch for the election volunteers.  Go, Mom!

Want to join us in celebrating?  Just post your voting story and/or photo, drop me a comment or an email (kmessner at katemessner dot com) and I’ll add you to the roundup.  Happy Election Day!

Edited to add:  I’m having trouble with this post when I update, and I’ve had to redo it a few times. If I’ve missed you, or if you were on the list and you’re missing now, please drop me a note and I’ll fix it.  Let’s all hope the election technology is working out much better than mine!

Blog the Vote!

Tomorrow morning, before school, I’ll walk to the tiny community center building in my neighborhood park to vote.  The election volunteers there will know me. They’re my neighbors — the walkers I see out on my morning run, the people who handed my kids candy a few nights ago, the volunteer firefighters who showed up in the middle of the night when squirrels chewed through the wires in our basement last winter. They’ll greet my kids by name and hold the curtain as the kids crowd into the booth with me to help press the levers.  When I leave, they’ll wish me a great day.  All of this will happen, whether or not we agree on who should be President of the United States, and this is what I love about voting – the way it brings us together.

This will be my 6th time voting in a Presidential Election, and I’ve never been more excited.  For the first time, I’ve been actively involved in a political campaign, making phone calls and talking with voters in states far away from mine.  Two nights ago, I chatted with a 68-year-old Pennsylvania woman while I was boiling water for pasta.  Her name was Fiona, and she’s never been more excited to vote either.  She actually thanked me for the phone call that no doubt interrupted her dinner.  I’ll be thinking about her when I vote tomorrow morning.  Even though we’ll be in different buildings, using different systems, in different states, Fiona and I have a connection.

We all do on  Election Day.  I’ve voted in different places over the years — in a big community center in Syracuse right after I graduated from SU, in an elementary school in Burlington, Vermont when I worked there as a tv reporter, and now, in the one-room community center between the swing set and the soccer field.  In all those times and places, whether or not the election workers knew my name, they greeted me warmly, and I headed back out into the November day feeling important and connected and…well…American.

Soon after the polls open at 6am tomorrow, I’ll walk to the park with my kids.  I’ll sign my name on the election roster and lift my daughter so she can reach the levers in the booth.  I’ll referee when the kids argue over who gets to press the one for President, and then I’ll pull back the curtain and say goodbye to my neighbors and take my son to jazz band rehearsal at 7.  But that feeling will last all day long…the feeling of being part of something big…something important, along with the election volunteers, and with Fiona in Pennsylvania, and with you.

Visit Colleen at Chasing Ray for a full list of Blog the Vote posts on the importance of voting…and please stop back here tomorrow.  To celebrate all of our VOICES AND VOTES on Election Day, I’ll be posting a photograph of myself at my polling place right after I vote, and I’m inviting you to do the same.  I’ll be posting a VOICES AND VOTES roundup with links, so If you want to participate, drop me a comment or email (kmessner at katemessner dot com) and I’ll include your link.  Happy Voting!

Votes and Voices – An Invitation

As writers, we value individual voices, and this Tuesday, all of us — writer and non-writers alike — have a powerful opportunity to show that our voices matter. 

I’ve been an eligible voter for 20 years now, and this will be my sixth Presidential election. I’ve never been more excited to cast my vote, and I’m excited that on this coming Election Day, America will likely see one of its biggest voter turnouts in memory. 

I’m excited for people who will be voting for President for the first time on Tuesday —  people like my friend Stephanie, getting her master’s degree to be a librarian right now.  I’m excited for the thousands of older people voting for the first time,  already lining up in states like Florida and Georgia, because they believe this year, their voices are important.  They’re right.

On Tuesday morning, I’ll be stopping to vote during my morning run.  My polling place is actually a tiny little building — a one-room community center in our neighborhood park. 

To celebrate Election Day, I’ll post a photograph of myself on my way in to vote, and I invite you to do the same on your blog on Tuesday.  I’ll post a round-up of links here, so please drop me a note or comment if you plan to participate, and I’ll be sure to include you in my VOTES AND VOICES celebration.

Just three more days to go…