Minnesota Book Awards and St. Peter Reads

Rachael Hanel's Blog about being a finalist for the MN Book Awards

Her memoir, We'll Be the Last Ones to Let You Down is worth the read! It's a lovely, powerful book about being a gravedigger's daughter.

I'm in one of her pictures, too! Rachael is in our writing group, and we are oh, so proud. This is our second writing group finalist for a Minnesota Book Award (Kirstin Cronn-Mills was a finalist a couple years ago for The Sky Always Hears Me).

We had a grand afternoon and evening at the Awards.  Here is Rachael Hanel (left) before the awards ceremony, talking to her husband David, while she is ready to sign books.  Beside her is Melanie Hoffert, who won the category for her memoir Prairie Silence.

Here are the members of our writing group in attendance:

Judith Angelique Johnson, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Rachael, and me. Our friends Steve Deger and Leslie Gibson joined us for dinner and for the festivities. Here they are with Leslie's and my favorite outfit spotted at the Gala. We have no idea who this lovely and creative woman is, but she was willing to pose with Leslie and Steve!

Also, notably, sitting at Rachael's table,  were several of us who usually ride the Minnesota Ironman together. We had to take a picture becasue we've never been photographed together while NOT wearing lycra/spandex.

Left to right: Loretta (Rachael's mom), Renee (Rachael's sister), me, Rachael, and David Hanel (Rachael's hubby, who often lets us draft on long rides).

Before we dressed and went to the event, Angie and I wandered around downtown Minneapolis while Kirstin was at a meeting. Here I am being Mary Tyler Moore. :)

And since I'm telling this story backwards, I want to include that I started the day in St. Peter at the St. Peter Reads event. It was a blast. Nicole Helget did a brilliant job as keynote speaker with an extended metaphor comparing baseball and writing. She was captivating, as always.

Twelve of us writers were invited to a "Moveable Feast" (Great name) where we sat with one breakfasting table of interested readers for fifteen minutes and then moved to another. We got to meet many readers and fascinating community members this way. It's a GREAT event, and I encourage any local reader or writer to attend next year.  

Medusa's Head

As you can tell from my Medusa book (or if you've taken one of my Humanities courses), I'm a bit of a mythology junkie.
I thought I had looked upon almost every depiction of Medusa imaginable, but today, I just found another new one:

Now that one creeps me out. It's not just scary, but it's realistic, as if I'd be scared to get within a few feet of that dead head--and the snakes don't look dead at all! EEEk.
One look would indeed petrify me with fear.
Another creepy one that isn't as scary, but is more famous is by Caravaggio, the Baroque painter:



And then another fairly common image in relief sculptures:
.

There, your Medusa for the day.

Raising money for Aplastic Anemia

Once again, I'm riding the Jackson County Brevet century (100 miles near Atlanta, Georgia) to raise money for research and treatment of Aplastic Anemia and related blood disorders. These are pictures from when I did the ride two years ago with my son-in-law Tom McCaslin, who is a healthy survivor of AA. I feel as if this cause is one worthy of my work and  makes me not ashamed to ask for contributions. Tom and I are at it again.

My Jackson County Brevet Page

George Hincapie on the Brevet! : )

Beware the Ides of March and unrelated--Marguerite Henry

Can't pass this day without thinking about Rome and Julius Caesar. Greek Mythology  and Roman lore are two of the staples of my Intro to Humanities Class at South Central College.

On a different note, Nikki and I took Alec to the Greenville Library yesterday. There is a terrific children's wing. We perused books, picked a bagful for Alec, and I came across this nostalgic section:

When I was in grade school, I read every book I could find that Marguerite Henry wrote.  My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Anderson, made us tell the class what we wanted to be when we grew up (Smile), and who would to teach us how to do it. I said I wanted to be a writer, and I wanted to learn from Marguerite Henry.

I got to hear Marguerite Henry read once at the University of Minnesota--she was the very first published writer I ever saw do a public reading--but I was too shy (believe it or not) to go  up and tell her she was my idol. I wish I could still tell her. Instead, I'll try to do her legacy justice.

Thank you, Marguerite Henry, for all your wonderful stories.

Dr. Seuss

It was Dr. Seuss' birthday this week, and I missed blogging about it. But trust the guru of children's literature, Anita Silvey, to keep us up to speed. Here's her blog about Dr. Seuss' near miss of being a dry-cleaners-owner instead of the author we all love.

To Think that I Saw it on Mulberry Street

I have to go grade papers (just got off the trainer), so you can read Anita Silvey's words instead of mine.

Clementine by Sara Pennypacker, illustrated by Marla Frazee

Clementine! If you've read Clementine an her sequels, you'll never forget her.

We read Clementine for Children's Lit tonight, had a good discussion, and we watched this delightful clip of the author and illustrator talking about creating this delightful series:

Sara Pennypacker and Marla Frazee talk about "Clementine"

Picture before our panel