Single-handed Ropeburn
Evidence of my single-handed victory in a game of tug-of-war on Friday. I felt particularly masculine and effective until I realized that the burn marks were not going to fade with anything resembling speed. I have enough scars and marks on my hands to make me self-conscious, and a large red brand was not the fashion statement I have been searching for — regardless of how in vogue scarification may be on the Left Coast and other depraved areas of the planet.
Original Speed
I have received a second package of original artwork from the comic book Finder by Carla Speed McNeil. Speed always includes a couple of sketches or roughs with every mail order, and they are about as helpful of a resource to an amateur comic book artist as any text could be. The ability to compare the roughs to the actual finished art to the reproduced art on the printed page tells volumes about technique, detail, evocation, and reproduction.
My first order of original artwork is a major source of pride, and one that I can’t help but show off to any guests or visitors. It consists of the first two pages to a short story called “Counting Coup”, the title being a theme she has explored at various points over the entire series. Finder is the comic book I give to people who don’t read comic books. It is currently the standard against which I judge all other works.
Summer Librarian
My job description is varied and sprawling, as I have one of those catch-all professions. I’m only sort-of a teacher, ’cause I don’t teach full time. I write curriculum and train student teachers, but that’s not what I spend the majority of my time doing. Yes, I also do mailings and copy jobs and answer phones, but my boss is always vaguely offended when I describe myself as “a glorified secretary”.
At the moment, I am also a librarian. The full-time librarian at my host school has complimented me on my Info Sheet, and told me that she’d probably steal it. I gleamed for about an hour. My challenge-laden informational resource scavenger hunt has not driven anyone to tears, but frustration has been epic. Still, these are not the things of which I am most proud in my current role as program librarian.
Today I put a copy of The Westing Game into a child’s hands. I introduced kids to John Bellairs and William Sleator. A girl who declared that she’d read anything I handed her walked away with The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. The Golden Compass, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Fantastic Voyage, The Fellowship of The Ring, Redwall, A Bad Beginning, and The Book of Three have all be checked out in the last hour.
Not a bad day’s work.
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