This Translates to a "New" TV

As you may know, my husband and I fled to Arizona to live with his sister. This was to keep her company, as her husband had recently passed away, and mostly because we couldn't afford a place of our own. Now, as you know, my husband has a job in the far south of the city, so we had to move because his sister's place was way too far north and we literally couldn't have afforded the gas, even before the springtime price increases. Even with the gas savings, we're just holding steady in a virtually furniture-free apartment, crossing our fingers for the day we can go back and get our stuff. Then we won't feel so gosh darn poor.

Now my sister-in-law has finally sold that house so far from town and is off this week to move back to California. (Arizona had been her husband's idea.) Good for her! My husband and I feel slightly abandoned to the rattlesnakes, coyotes, gila monsters, and burning sunlight, but her departure for a smaller place means we get even more second-hand stuff. You name it, we can use it. The one that's most drastically changed our quality of life has been that my sister-in-law gave us another TV set. She had given us one that she thought was decent, but it was anything but. The first TV she gave us was 12 or 14 inches, so I had to sit pretty close in order to see the questions on Jeopardy! Its remote control had been lost to the sands of time, and the cable guy didn't give us a cable box or remote because we got the cheapest package. I assure you, we pay for cable, but on this TV, it felt like we were stealing. The TV was really designed to be used with the now missing remote, so in order to use it, we had to take off the front panel and change the channels and volume with the little nubs. Even when I was single and at my poorest, I never had to endure such ignominy. The worst part was, well, it's visible in the picture.

In this picture you can also see the borrowed glass coffee table and a castoff lamp.

The channel number in the middle of the screen, taking up 25% of it, obscuring sight gags and making it impossible to recognize who's talking, never goes away! (This is apparently a common malady of older TV models -- I've seen Craigslist ads with this description!) You have the watch the lower numbered channels to get only half the obstruction.

The result of all this was that I never watched TV until my husband came home and needed to unwind. I think that's the reason I've gotten so much writing and Fireship Press projects done, so it actually added quality to my life ... until I had to look at that screen again.

The "new" TV my sister-in-law gave us is 32 inches or so (ginormous!), so I can see it across the room, read the Jeopardy! questions, and flip through the stultifying channels with the working remote. I feel almost like a princess. Or at least lower middle class. I'm still not watching much TV, but I do feel most grateful to my sister-in-law. I wish her all the best in California.

The Tucson Festival of Books

On Saturday, I volunteered for behind-the-scenes work at the Tucson Festival of Books.

It was huge! They told me it was the fourth largest in the nation, but I couldn't really get a concept of it until I saw the hundreds of tents, the enormous eating space, the open air acrobatic circus, and the people, people, people! The workshops took place underground so they could fit them in! A warning for any future festivalgoers: the events and tents east of Cherry on the map are serviced by Port-A-Potties. Out here in the Wild West, it's actually the East that's most rugged.

See how the tents stretch into infinity! I wondered why I had to apply seven layers of sunscreen. Why have a book fair outdoors in the middle of the desert? Because there was so much to see and do, no building could contain it. (There are only a few fairgoers in this picture because I took it at the end of the day.) Among the volunteers, one of the many stories circulating was about the authors from Back East who weren't feeling well. When asked if they'd had anything to drink, they said no. So the story ends with, "Duh! In the desert, you have to hydrate!"

Here, amazing junior musicians bring down the house... erm, tent, in the Third Annual Nuestras Raíces Mariachi Contest. This is in addition to the workshops, the displays, the talks, the circus, the book signings, and all the other events. 

I was setting up and ensuring the smooth running of author signing area #5. The size of the festival guarantees a bit of confusion, on the part of the organizers as well as the people who come to enjoy it. For example, we couldn't keep track of Derek Haas and Michael Brandt, involved with turning 3:10 to Yuma from a book into a movie. It was later reported that they had refused an escort because they felt like they knew where they were going, so maybe they just forgot they had the engagement. Below, see the throngs of people in line for autographs from Leslie Marmon Silko, who also suffered some kind of scheduling confusion, next to the calmer romance table with the very personable authors Julia London, Karen Hawkins, Mary Jo Putney, and Sabrina Jeffries.

The authors who made the biggest impression on me were: 

1. Lisa Napoli, who wrote the intriguing Radio Shangri-La and signed postcards for the volunteers, because we couldn't leave our post to go and buy the book... yet. 

2. Lisa Dahl, owner of a couple of restaurants in Sedona, whose culinary book The Elixir of Life is the most gorgeous of its kind I've ever seen. Her husband was there to help her unpack the books, take the money for them, and even open them to the title page to be signed. I couldn't help but imagine myself at next year's festival accompanied by my husband! 

3. Romance-with-a-kick author Vijaya Schartz, who's now so focused on selling her e-books that she had her "leftover" print copies on the table to give away! I got Ashes for the Elephant God, about lovers who are murdered in the time of the Raj, only to reincarnate and flee from the same assassin one hundred fifty years later. Ooh! 

4. Romance author Amylynn Bright, who's also shifting her focus to e-books. She had large postcards with a space in which she could sign her name. Given that most people don't have the new app for signing e-books, this is a brilliant solution! Way to go!

The Festival is completely non-profit and free to the public. The whole thing runs on tent fees and the good will of loads of volunteers who work for $0. If the event makes any money, they donate it to literacy resources in the community, so, if you are so inclined, you can feel good about making donations to such a great cause. www.tucsonfestivalofbooks.org

A word on shyness, a. k. a. social anxiety. I'm terribly shy, and for me that meant a Saturday morning of clenched fists and heart pounding. I wasn't sure what I was going to be doing or whom I was going to talk to at this enormous event, and my body interprets that as extremely threatening. My husband spent the morning trying to get me to breathe normally. When I got there, I nervously signed my name tag and changed into the T-shirt, and, clutching my two envelopes full of signs, schedules, and instructions, made my wobbly way to the signing area. The friendly volunteers were waiting for me, so they said, "Are you here?" Yes, I was. Then, there was so much to figure out and do that I had no more time to worry. The festivalgoers were all non-threatening book lovers, like me, so I had common ground with them as well as with the authors. I would have liked to chat with them more, but there was actual work I had to do. By the time the next rotation of volunteers showed up, I was in charge of operations, the go-to gal for signing area #5. 

I wasn't able to tell more than one person that I'm an author, too, and I didn't give out any of my business cards or mention that anyone at the festival might show up on my blog, but, considering that I went from practically hyperventilating to relative smoothness, I still have to count the day as a social anxiety success story. So, a good time was had by all. 

Books For Treats

There's no getting around it: it's the Halloween season. What used to be a time to honor the ancestors has become a celebration of the willies and a chance to gorge on candy (as if Americans needed another opportunity like that!).

With all of that at the front of my mind, I was thrilled to find out about the organization Books For Treats. Founded and run by Rebecca Morgan in San José, California, it replaces candy with books! Passing out literature instead of sweets! Substituting cavities and obesity for literacy!

Now, I have the world's biggest sweet tooth -- always have. I remember being cynical when a teacher talked about giving a "treat" to the class and it turned out be a visit from the music teacher or something else non-candy. But, reimagining my childhood trick-or-treat ventures, I know how amazing it would have been to receive an age-appropriate picture or story book instead of that fistful of Dum-Dums. The website gives examples of child feedback, and it's very positive. Let's face it: finding books and making sure they're suitable for the particular child who comes to your door takes a lot more attention and care than grabbing a bag of candy at the grocery store, and children will perceive that qualitative difference.

The site also links to similar organizations in Texas and Iowa and great ideas for where you can get inexpensive kids' books, as well as guidelines for deciding what to give to whom. Check it out!

I highly doubt we will get any trick-or-treaters where we live, so when I heard about Books For Treats, I donated some 28 children's books via priority mail, and I hope they get there in time to be used this year. Most of the books were children's picture books in Spanish, which I have used with some success in the language classroom. Two volumes were The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe and The Magician's Nephew, fabulous books I bought to read to my husband, who didn't do much reading as a child. (The couple that reads to each other, stays together!) Even if they can't be used this year, the books will still be fresh for the 2011 round. Really good children's books never get old.

booksfortreats.org

Coming soon: Interviews with authors Angela Townsend and Barbara Briggs Ward! Musings on web site issues! Stay tuned!

Let's Go to the Zoo!

The new baby giraffe patiently awaits her lunchtime. 

In celebration of our upcoming anniversary, my husband and I made use of a free hotel stay and spent some time in the Philadelphia zoo. It's America's first zoo, and parts of it are suffering with age. If you love animals, support this zoo so they can live better!

We went principally to see the two rhinos, to commune with those magnificent and literary beasts. (Ionesco's play --a great piece of theatre -- uses them as negative symbols, but I don't see how they could be considered anything but enchanting, and my stories always feature their good qualities.)

It turns out that the African white rhino is only out until 1 pm, when the zebras take over that enclosure. We were driving down and eating lunch at the café, blissfully unaware that we were missing our chance to see him! I don't care if he was just sleeping in the shade, I wanted to see the rhino! I'm sure that with a lot of funding, the zoo could set up separate full-time areas for everyone. If only I had money, I would be a great philanthropist...

Then the sweet Asian rhino was feeling under the weather. We came by her enclosure and didn't see her, so we went back later to make sure. While we're told she often basks in a nice pool very near the viewing public, that day we only saw her from afar. She was inside her building, looking out  the door and chewing. We called to her and told her how lovely she was, but really we could only see her ears outlined in the light. A zoo volunteer explained that she might have been stung by a wasp on one of her sensitive parts near the nose and mouth. Most of the day, the zookeepers let her choose to stay in or go out but by then it looked like some bars had been lowered to keep her in for the few minutes the zoo was still open. Mostly, she wasn't feeling up to visitors. At least we got to appreciate the beautiful shape of her silhouette.

Although it was too hot for us humans, the rest of the animals were surprisingly active. The rest of the day was great. Support your local zoo!

Another underappreciated animal, the sloth, literally hangs out with the endangered primates.

The zebras during their afternoon shift in the African rhino enclosure.