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“She had blue skin,
And so did he.
He kept it hid
And so did she.
They searched for blue
Their whole life through,
Then passed right by-
And never knew.”
- Shel Silverstein, Every Thing on It
What's your favorite Shel Silverstein poem? Did you grow up with him like I did, or discover him later in life? (Do you by some odd chance have no idea who Shel Silverstein is? Because if so, oh man, you and your Google-machine have some fun times coming up.)
A lot of people do what he's describing here - hide qualities about themselves that they hope to find in others. Do you have any traits you do this with? Have you made a conscious decision to stop doing this with certain traits? (This is partly why I've started wearing my geekiness on my sleeve lately at work - I'll never find anyone else who likes, for instance, neo-medieval folk music unless I make it known that I do first!)
RECOMMENDATIONS FRIDAY! What have you read lately that was interesting? What have you written lately that was interesting? Shamelessly self-promote or point us towards something that amused you or made you think.
~ Kristycat
30 comments:
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I've been reeding Tales of Mu for a long time and I really enjoy it too. But yes, comes with warnings!
I've been reeding Tales of Mu for a long time and I really enjoy it too. But yes, comes with warnings!
I grew up with Silverstein and a friend of mine and I used to chant one about pirates(?) with each other. I think there was a flying shoe involved. My favorite now is One Real Peach. I'd rather like a fresh peach right now, though perhaps this isn't the season.
I come from one of those families, where you put a good face on it and smile, goddamnit. When I do talk about it even I'm never sure what's going to come out, so it's generally best for everyone involved for me to shut up. Or to keep it confined to southern gothic and pretend it's all made up.
I've started working again on my Renaissance beauty throw, because this is a much better time of year to have a lapful of afghan than summer was. Also I made a kelp forest shawlette, with several changes to the pattern. I'm not entirely satisfied with it for my own use, but if anybody does steampunk cosplay, it would look lovely with a bustle and parasol.
Today, I've been in ur iTunes, screwing with ur algorthyms. Felt a pressing need for 'Forever Young' by Rod Stewart. Picked up 'Save Me, San Francisco' by Train. Then snatched up 'Counting Bodies like Sheep to the Beating of the War Drums' and certain selections from the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack, which do _not_ include anything by the Cardigans. But I'm going to order a Gordon Lightfoot cd, so it all evens out. Sort of.
I love A Perfect Circle. Well, I love Maynard's stuff in general. And I maintain a strange lingering fondness for the R+J soundtrack, and movie despite the many flaws of the movie. Talk Show Host mellows me right out.
I love A Perfect Circle. Well, I love Maynard's stuff in general. And I maintain a strange lingering fondness for the R+J soundtrack, and movie despite the many flaws of the movie. Talk Show Host mellows me right out.
I realized I really should mention that Tales of MU is may have some triggers. It's about a girl starting college in a fantasy setting, and she's in the non-human dorm. There is a lot of "adult material" along with the fascinating world-building and classroom drama, and the main character (it's in first person) is an excellent example of an unreliable narrator - including not recognizing abuse when it starts happening, in one case. It's VERY good, but I occasionally skip a scene; it's been very... educational, since I have about the same amount of experience as the narrator starting out.
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Also, I want to mention two books that waylaid me as I was walking past the "new books" rack at the library:
"The Kashmir Shawl" by Rosie Thomas - takes place in India following a missionary's wife during WWII, and alternately, her granddaughter in contemporary times, trying to trace the history of her grandmother's shawl. It's absolutely beautiful.
"The Bughouse Affair: A Carpenter and Quincannon Mystery" by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini - set in San Francisco in the 1890s, a mystery involving a detective agency run by a man and woman who are NOT involved romantically - and a certain British detective shows up as well, getting in the way of their investigation. Apparently he did NOT go over the cliff with Moriarty... Great historical fiction, and alternating viewpoints, including a very independent woman!
Yes, it was a beautiful comment,
I don't have a favorite Shel Silverstein poem, although I seem to recall that my daughter was fond of him. But when it comes to children's poetry collections, I like to recommend Sing a Song of Popcorn. We both loved that book, for years.
ERA: And I forgot to mention that I'm currently reading and enjoying The New Moon's Arms by Nalo Hopkinson. I'd liked Brown girl in the Ring and Midnight Robber very much, but I just couldn't warm up to The Salt Road. So I'm glad to be liking this new one so much: Calamity (the narrator) is a lot of fun to spend time with (for the reader, if not necessarily for the other characters!).
Poem not book. Too excited to contribute to the discussion I guess that I forgot to check over the post!
I think I can narrow my Shel Silverstein down to three - for now.
How Not To Have To Dry the Dishes
By Shel Silverstein
If you have to dry the dishes
(Such an awful, boring chore)
If you have to dry the dishes
(‘Stead of going to the store)
If you have to dry the dishes
And you drop one on the floor—
Maybe they won’t let you
Dry the dishes anymore.
.
The Meehoo with an Exactlywatt by Shel Silverstein
Knock knock!
Who's there?
Me!
Me who?
That's right!
What's right?
Meehoo!
That's what I want to know!
What's what you want to know?
Me, WHO?
Yes, exactly!
Exactly what?
Yes, I have an Exactlywatt on a chain!
Exactly what on a chain?
Yes!
Yes what?
No, Exactlywatt!
That's what I want to know!
I told you - Exactlywatt!
Exactly WHAT?
Yes!
Yes what?
Yes, it's with me!
What's with you?
Exactlywatt - that's what's with me.
Me who?
Yes!
GO AWAY!
Knock knock...
.
(That's as good as "Who's on First"!)
.
Wild Strawberries
By Shel Silverstein
Are Wild Strawberries really wild?
Will they scratch an adult, will they snap at a child?
Should you pet them, or let them run free where they roam?
Could they ever relax in a steam-heated home?
Can they be trained to not growl at the guests?
Will a litterbox work or would they leave a mess?
Can we make them a Cowberry, herding the cows,
Or maybe a Muleberry pulling the plows,
Or maybe a Huntberry chasing the grouse,
Or maybe a Watchberry guarding the house,
And though they may curl up at your feet oh so sweetly,
Can you ever feel that you trust them completely?
Or should we make a pet out of something less scary,
Like the Domestic Prune or the Imported Cherry,
Anyhow, you’ve been warned and I will not be blamed
If your Wild Strawberry cannot be tamed.
.
That last one may be mostly because Ursula Vernon, one of my favorite online authors/artists, painted this:
http://www.redwombatstudio.com/wpg2?g2_itemId=682
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.
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As for fiction, I'll go with a couple of online ones... First of all, Ursula's great Hugo-Award-Winning webcomic "Digger"! http://www.diggercomic.com/
(Be warned, it is a multivolume graphic novel, not a joke-a-day comic strip!)
And another favorite online author, Alexandra Erin, just posted a new short-short story: http://www.fantasyinminiature.com/2013/01/suffer-not/
She also has an ongoing serial work called "Tales of MU". Here's the first chapter: http://www.talesofmu.com/story/book01/1
I would read this intro first, though: http://www.talesofmu.com/story/about
.
And finally, Patricia C. Wrede's blog: http://pcwrede.com/blog/
She's one of my top favorite authors EVER, and her blog is mostly looking at writing techniques/processes.
It's been a long time since I've read Shel Silverstein. I remember one about a stairway:
Stairway
Shel Silverstein
I climbed the stairway to the sun
To fill my eyes with burning gold.
But oh the sky was dank and dark,
And there the air was damp and cold,
And down below the earth shone bright.
I sat and stared in wonder. Then,
I crawled back down--I don't think I
Will climb those stairs again.
As a kid, I remember being stumped by that book. Wasn't I supposed to reach for my dreams? Wasn't I supposed to keep climbing that stairway until I achieved the dream, and lived a life worth living? One where I honored God and achieved whatever purpose God had? (I grew up in a highly religious Catholic household, so these questions were pretty big to me as a kid.)
One of my biggest dreams as a child was to be an astronaut. I wanted to walk on the moon like Neil Armstrong. Sail in orbit like Sally Ride. Tackle hard problems like James Lovell. I read every astronomy book I could find at the library, and researched the classes I would need to get into NASA and start the astronaut training programs. We didn't have much money, so the astronaut boot camps for kids was just too much for us. But the family helped in others ways. In seventh grade, the family saved up for one plane lesson, where I learned to take off in a small four seater Cessna and I landed it as well. It was my one and only plane lesson.
Then in eighth grade I discovered I could no longer see the writing on the board in class. Due to my last name being the last letter in the alphabet, I was usually placed in the back row. Unable to see the board, I couldn't take proper notes. I panicked. In all my research on astronauts, over and over they spoke about perfect vision and being fit, and all sorts of requirements. This couldn't happen to me. I tried to hide it and find other ways to see the board, and it was me rediscovering this poem actually in the school library -- during my search for a suitable book for a book report -- that helped me come to terms with needing glasses. I had to give up the astronaut dream, and climb down from that staircase. In it's place, I found a different place to explore, one that wasn't so steep and so cold and damp. One where I could still enjoy space and astronomy despite my poor vision -- I began to write science fiction.
What I'm writing/reading currently: I am reading a great resource book for science fiction authors (and even fantasy authors for the stuff in here could help create more interesting races and creatures); Called Science of Aliens by Clifford Pickover. I decided to write a blog series that examines the concepts in the books to focus on the building of an alien Species. The book itself is really extensive and covers a variety of topics, but I'm mostly focusing on the creation of the alien species, how it could communicate, how it can procreate, possible origins, how it can travel, and especially how it may differ from us. This is the first part of that series: The Science of Aliens part one
It's been a long time since I've read Shel Silverstein. I remember one about a stairway:
Stairway
Shel Silverstein
I climbed the stairway to the sun
To fill my eyes with burning gold.
But oh the sky was dank and dark,
And there the air was damp and cold,
And down below the earth shone bright.
I sat and stared in wonder. Then,
I crawled back down--I don't think I
Will climb those stairs again.
As a kid, I remember being stumped by that book. Wasn't I supposed to reach for my dreams? Wasn't I supposed to keep climbing that stairway until I achieved the dream, and lived a life worth living? One where I honored God and achieved whatever purpose God had? (I grew up in a highly religious Catholic household, so these questions were pretty big to me as a kid.)
One of my biggest dreams as a child was to be an astronaut. I wanted to walk on the moon like Neil Armstrong. Sail in orbit like Sally Ride. Tackle hard problems like James Lovell. I read every astronomy book I could find at the library, and researched the classes I would need to get into NASA and start the astronaut training programs. We didn't have much money, so the astronaut boot camps for kids was just too much for us. But the family helped in others ways. In seventh grade, the family saved up for one plane lesson, where I learned to take off in a small four seater Cessna and I landed it as well. It was my one and only plane lesson.
Then in eighth grade I discovered I could no longer see the writing on the board in class. Due to my last name being the last letter in the alphabet, I was usually placed in the back row. Unable to see the board, I couldn't take proper notes. I panicked. In all my research on astronauts, over and over they spoke about perfect vision and being fit, and all sorts of requirements. This couldn't happen to me. I tried to hide it and find other ways to see the board, and it was me rediscovering this poem actually in the school library -- during my search for a suitable book for a book report -- that helped me come to terms with needing glasses. I had to give up the astronaut dream, and climb down from that staircase. In it's place, I found a different place to explore, one that wasn't so steep and so cold and damp. One where I could still enjoy space and astronomy despite my poor vision -- I began to write science fiction.
What I'm writing/reading currently: I am reading a great resource book for science fiction authors (and even fantasy authors for the stuff in here could help create more interesting races and creatures); Called Science of Aliens by Clifford Pickover. I decided to write a blog series that examines the concepts in the books to focus on the building of an alien Species. The book itself is really extensive and covers a variety of topics, but I'm mostly focusing on the creation of the alien species, how it could communicate, how it can procreate, possible origins, how it can travel, and especially how it may differ from us. This is the first part of that series: The Science of Aliens part one
I have been avoiding Santa Olivia, because.... I don't know why. It's one of those that I pick up at the bookstore, look at for a second, and put back down again. And I loved the Kushiel series (serieses?). I think I will have to go ahead and try it based on your recommendation. :-)
I... will admit that I spent two days this week reading 50 Shades of Grey, both because I don't like disapproving of books I haven't actually read all of, and because it's been making the rounds among my friends at work in a "You have to read it so you'll know what I'm complaining about" kind of way.
I'm also re-reading the Samaria series by Sharon Shinn, and I really enjoy it. They are a blend of science fiction and romance, but not explicit (for anyone who prefers to avoid such things) and the lead female characters are nicely varied in personalities and backgrounds. I may start her Twelve Houses series next.
Tab Kimpton (webcomic artist) has read Fifty Shades of Grey. He was not impressed. But he has started a new webcomic called Fifty Shades of A, the main character of which is asexual.
TRiG.
I'm hoping to meet people in the new city I've been living in for nearly 5 months (and still have... zero friends - in this city! I have a bunch of awesome friends where I used to live and there have been several plane trips and lots of skyping so I am not totally alone by any means). I want to meet people who are introverted and geeky and not that interested in doing the things that people generally do to "meet people". I have decided to expect that this will happen very slowly and after 5 months I have discovered that I cope pretty well without a large amount of human contact so I am pushing out the deadline on this. I did recently find a group of people who I might go and play boardgames with so I am cautiously optimistic about that. I am fairly pleased with my own self-esteem in that creating a list of the traits I want in an Ideal Friend it turns out I basically just want to clone myself and then sit on the couch watching Teen Wolf with me. Of course I like people different from me, too! But yeah - so I am working on projecting my awesomeness to other people in the hopes that I will find someone who resonates with the way I work and the sort of friendships that work well for me.
I have been reading a bunch of fanfiction and have been tempted to write some of my own, but only got... um, five words in. I'll get there. My plan right now is to start with some fanfiction to practice before I go and try and write the original fiction I am too intimidated to touch right now.
I've been writing a bunch of blog posts, though! My commentary of Pride & Prejudice is coming along well and people keep telling me they are enjoying it although I am still getting very few comments.
I'm hoping to meet people in the new city I've been living in for nearly 5 months (and still have... zero friends - in this city! I have a bunch of awesome friends where I used to live and there have been several plane trips and lots of skyping so I am not totally alone by any means). I want to meet people who are introverted and geeky and not that interested in doing the things that people generally do to "meet people". I have decided to expect that this will happen very slowly and after 5 months I have discovered that I cope pretty well without a large amount of human contact so I am pushing out the deadline on this. I did recently find a group of people who I might go and play boardgames with so I am cautiously optimistic about that. I am fairly pleased with my own self-esteem in that creating a list of the traits I want in an Ideal Friend it turns out I basically just want to clone myself and then sit on the couch watching Teen Wolf with me. Of course I like people different from me, too! But yeah - so I am working on projecting my awesomeness to other people in the hopes that I will find someone who resonates with the way I work and the sort of friendships that work well for me.
I have been reading a bunch of fanfiction and have been tempted to write some of my own, but only got... um, five words in. I'll get there. My plan right now is to start with some fanfiction to practice before I go and try and write the original fiction I am too intimidated to touch right now.
I've been writing a bunch of blog posts, though! My commentary of Pride & Prejudice is coming along well and people keep telling me they are enjoying it although I am still getting very few comments.
Holy crap! I think I'm going to have to give Scott Lynch a try. Because, damn, but that's a fantastic response to an asshat. Also, the very fact that he writes wish fulfillment characters (and owns it) and for people who don't generally get them is all kinds of awesome.
I was familiar with Shel Silverstein as a child, but not really anymore. I can't tell you that much about any of his work.
As for book recommendations, well I'd say the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams is great, if you like his kind of humor (Which I do). Also, I recommend "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski (Get the remastered full-color edition, if you want to read it). The book's been rumored to be capable of driving people insane, and there is reference to rape and sexual abuse in the text, but if you can get past that, it's a very interesting read.
As for what I've been writing, well, I write fanfiction, that I put up on Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own, under the penname "ncfan". However, if you read fanfiction, and you want to read mine, I'd have to recommend that you not read anything published any earlier than 2012. I've been at it for a few years now, and like most fanfiction writers who've been at it for a few years, my writing style as of 2013 is an entirely different animal than my writing style as of 2009; a lot of my early stuff is absolutely cringe-worthy.
I was familiar with Shel Silverstein as a child, but not really anymore. I can't tell you that much about any of his work.
As for book recommendations, well I'd say the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series by Douglas Adams is great, if you like his kind of humor (Which I do). Also, I recommend "House of Leaves" by Mark Z. Danielewski (Get the remastered full-color edition, if you want to read it). The book's been rumored to be capable of driving people insane, and there is reference to rape and sexual abuse in the text, but if you can get past that, it's a very interesting read.
As for what I've been writing, well, I write fanfiction, that I put up on Fanfiction.net and Archive of Our Own, under the penname "ncfan". However, if you read fanfiction, and you want to read mine, I'd have to recommend that you not read anything published any earlier than 2012. I've been at it for a few years now, and like most fanfiction writers who've been at it for a few years, my writing style as of 2013 is an entirely different animal than my writing style as of 2009; a lot of my early stuff is absolutely cringe-worthy.
Occasionally when I see a traffic light, I wonder what I would do if it turned blue with orange and lavender spots.
A friend of mine inspired me in college to memorize "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would NOT Take the Garbage Out", and that's still one of my party pieces when I choose to recite poetry. Just listing all the (rhyming) garbage is fun in itself.
Hmm, I think all I've blogged about since last Friday are the difficulty in taking pictures of ones own feet and a work day involving far too many police officers (not that the police were the problem, mind, it's that they were needed). Not the most thrilling of things to self promote. I am, however, halfway done with the challenge I mentioned last time of drawing 50 hands and 50 feet. (Hence the post about trying to photograph ones feet.) I've also colored a few doodles of gaming characters and put them up on DeviantArt. (Which I'm still trying to decide if I want to link to, as it has my real name on it. As well as my usual handle.)
I am trying to not hide who I am so much, though its still a challenge. I have an anime character keychain hanging from my tech bag (or whatever one calls bags for carrying iPads), I take part in geeky discussions (and I've noticed coworkers being more and more likely to start said discussions with me), I openly check out movies and books and have even pointed out new books of possible shared interest (even if I'm still having a hell of a time getting though the latest - Timothy Zahn, why do you write like the driest newspaper ever?), and even risked comments on some socially liberal things. Perhaps someday I'll manage to just be myself and not self-edit so much.
I didn't come across Silverstein until I was already older so he didn't impact me much. The picture of him in the back of the books is scary! http://creativekidsplay.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/shel-silverstein.jpg
For hidden traits... I don't think I really have any left. I kept hobbies and stuff to myself a lot growing up, but I kept EVERYTHING to myself growing up. I was just so introverted. It's hard to tell if I was holding back specific things to avoid judgement or whatever like that. I held back just about everything because life was so much easier that way. People could decide who or what I was and I could just do whatever I wanted quietly and let them go on with their idea of me. I only had to do the minimum and be "acceptable."
Looking back I think it was a lazy way for me to live. My family still doesn't know what to do with me now when I go against their ideas of me.
I grew up with Shel Silverstein books, but I cannot recall a poem just that I always thought they were funny and weird. There was another kid's poet that we met and had an autographed book from who was as I seem to recall Silverstien-esq but for the life of me he escapes my mind as well, the meeting was in 1984 or so and the book was borrowed by a schoolmate in 1989 and disappeared. I remember silly drawings of mice and him signing "Yikes!" along with his name, I'm afraid if I tried to google him, I'd still not find him. He visited us at Anderson Elementary in Texas (Humble or Conroe cannot remember). Anyone else know of this contemporary of Silverstein? Sorry my memory is not what it use to be.
Shameless self promotion about what I am writing that I think is fun, possibly interesting. As an exercise we asked readers of the Night Boys series to ask any character any question silly or serious and "They" would answer the questions. It has been quite amusing and thought provoking to take the questions to task. We haven't posted the responses yet, as questions keep coming in. Occasionally we engage the followers of our page to exercise their brains along with us with brain-game writing exercises, quite like these open threads here.
Thanks
I love Shel Silverstein! I had a bunch of his books as a kid. I don't remember what my favorite was - perhaps Where the Sidewalk Ends. But I just discovered something really neat if you're a fan. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, he actually recorded a bunch of folk music for adults: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/shel-silverstein-mn0000020319 I asked for an album for Christmas that I didn't get, so I might just have to order it myself...
When I was little, my father didn't read bedtime stories to me. He would have me open a Shel Silverstein book at random, and then he would sing me whatever poem was on the page, improvising the melody. Most of the poems I still remember, I only know as songs.
Actually, I was a little upset many years later when I heard someone singing "The Unicorn." I had never known it was actually written as a song, and had been certain for most of my life that Dad had made up the whole thing on the spot just for me. When I called him, he said that's what gave him the idea originally. Oh well, he sang me the rest of A Light in the Attic and Where the Sidewalk Ends, and those really were mine alone.
In my high school speech class, one speech had to be a poetry reading. So I read 2 Shel Silverstein poems, I wish I could remember which ones. I got a lot of positive feedback from my classmates, so it was a pretty good experience.
I got work offer for a job that corresponds to my education! It's temporary (4 months) as they don't know if they'll get new projects this spring, but it would give me a chance to get more work experience in the field and learn AutoCad better, which would help tremendously in finding a continued employment if that one tanks. I'd pretty much given up hope on that since it took them 2 weeks to inform me about this, but yay!
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