cultural dynamism

Otaku Gaijen
(obsessive foreign fan)

Every last Wednesday of the month is the time for teenagers to flood the library to take care of their latest obsession: anime. I started our club the fall of 2004, and it has officially forty one members, 15 or so who attend regularly. We named it a few months after it started, so we weren't stuck with The Burlington Public Library Anime Club (very cheesy), agreeing upon Otaku Gaijen.

Anime is short for Japanese animation, and is pretty much cartoons, though most are a continuing series, not standing on their own. Manga (Japanese comic books) can either inspire an anime series, or be drawn in honor of an anime. True manga fans prefer the ones that have been translated from the Japanese in the original format, which means you'd be reading the book 'backwards'.

Orignally, the format for club was pretty simple: we shared any new acquisitions of manga or anime (personal or what I had purchased for the library), showed off our drawings, made any announcements that were necessary and then watched and evaluated some anime. It's turned into a much less structured event, where we'll have announcements, some chit-chat time and then watch our feature of the month, which usually lasts about 30 minutes. Most of what we watch originates in Japan, and we watch it in Japanese with English subtitles (who says teens aren't reading?!).

After we watch and evaluate, I generally add the disc or tape to the collection. I just was able to get a shelf of anime in the teen area, as DEMCO finally came out with anime sticker labels! There also is a shelf of graphic novels and manga, so everything aimed at teens is in one area.

Some of my favorites that we've watched are Revolutionary Girl Utena, Spirited Away, Record of Lodoss War, and You're Under Arrest. There have only been a few total flops, and generally my teens don't like robot films, which is hard, as that's a large genre in anime. I also have only had a few that were borderline unacceptable to publically show (I preview everything first), but fortunately, my teens are pretty mature about that stuff. Uh, well, sort of. As much as they can be, I suppose. [grin]

artwork courtesy of me! we have a lot of how-to-draw anime books here...

Book recommendation: Olivia Forms a Band by Ian Falconer
Movie recommendation: The Devil Wears Prada
Recipe recommendation: Ricotta Blueberry Pancakes

abhorred architectonics

Progress for Progress' Sake?

So, they've begun the destruction of our view out the back yard to build 32 condominum units...all the neighbors of the area have been heavily involved in this process, as we didn't really want them developing the land behind us, but it was of no use to fight it. We all got a great education in PUDs and what the city can and cannot allow... [roll eyes]

Anyway, the beginning of June saw trucks moving into the area, and one Monday I came home to find this:


Now, it's a little hard to get a full picture of what they did, since you're not here, but Chip took a picture of part of the lane they drove down beforehand, and most all of the trees in this picture are now gone. The ones on the right are on our property line:


You might be thinking, 'eh, they develop land all the time, what's the big deal?' or 'you tree-hugger!' Okay, maybe not, but I've been reading Firestorm at Peshtigo (Denise Gess). For those of you who don't know the story of the Peshtigo fire, it happened the same time as the great Chicago fire, but was much greater in terms of damage. Visit their website to get the whole story. It also includes pictures of forests that have been reduced to stumps, much like the pictures of our back view these days...
If you like historical stuff, this is a great book to get the complete picture of what happened and how the logging industry and greedy people led the whole area to its near demise. I've not been to Peshtigo myself, but would some day like to visit the museum there. Beverly Butler wrote a story about this event as well--My Sister's Keeper--which I read in middle school and met the author!

I'll try to keep you updated in the comments section...

Book recommendation: Wicked by Gregory Maguire (the prestory of the Wicked Witch of the West) (this is an adult book!)
Product recommendation: Black Cherry Cream Soda from the Point brewery (available in Wisconsin)
Recipe recommendation: Chocolate Lava Muffins (Carissa shared this one with me!)

limbless aquatic vertebrate

Let's give a warm welcome to the newest member of the Bahr household:

I got a betta fish for fish week of storytimes (which is this week), so I've actually only had the fish about 24 hours. It's really pretty: mostly blue/green with red stripes in the fins and tail. We're doing really well thus far, despite the numerous preschoolers wanting hold the bowl or touch the fish this morning... Henry wasn't too thrilled when I showed her the bowl, but then, it's about as big as she is, and foreign, so I can understand why she shied away.

Will this mean we're venturing into more fish? I don't know. The bowl I bought is also a plant stand--you stick the whole contraption into a pot--so it's small. Perhaps, if I can find more of these, we'd have room for bettas all over the house!

Or maybe we won't. [shrug]

I haven't named him or her yet (how can you tell on a single fish?), so if you have suggestions, I'll gladly take them!

picture taken from www.betta-town.com

Book recommendation: Where's Waldo? The Great Picture Hunt (BRAND new!)
Recipe recommendation: Mexican Strawberry Torte
Movie recommendation: The Castle in the Sky (anime)

summertide sked

So it's almost time for the madness to begin that is called Summer Reading Program.

I'm sitting here trying to figure how I manage to get through each summer without having a total nervous breakdown. I don't think I've added anything new this summer, just did a little rearranging. The writing group, for example, is now for anyone who likes/can write, not just teens. After the astonishing attendance last summer (note: one teen came once), and a couple of pleas for a young writing club, I expanded it. We'll see how it goes...

But I'm always overwhelmed at the end of May and beginning of June. I think it's like mothers who manage to forget everything bad about childbirth and find themselves with more than one child--something gets blocked in my memory about how stressful this all is! Yes, there are several rewards, too, like the school visits I get to do right before summer begins and the enthusiasm I see as kids and teens rush to sign up when the program starts (and even before it starts...). I also enjoy the programming and planning the programs. It's just hard to have most of the world 'off' for the summer while I get super busy.

So go visit your local library and take your youth services librarian something to help ease the pain of getting hundreds of kids inundating his/her library for the next three months. Sign up for the reading program while you're there! A lot of libraries have adult summer reading programs now, too.

artwork by David Shannon, illustrator for this year's SRP

Book recommendation: Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer

Recipe recommendation: Best Oven Potatoes (from Cooks Illustrated)

New product to try: Icebreaker Raspberry Mint Mints