CGHS Library

GuysLitWire

Here's a segment from an excellent post on GuysLitWire about writing scams. This site is worth taking a look at once in a while. As we all know, guys are much, much, much different than girls, and their reading tastes are often quite different as well. Guy readers are often neglected, but not on this site.

"[Scammers] will promise the world, play off your insecurities and ignorance of publishing, and try to convince you they are your only friend in the industry. They are experts at dangling those dreams just out of reach, making it seem so tempting that you forget common sense.

I know because they got me once. Luckily, I never got in too deep, since I had more experienced writer friends who told me how they operate. (Actually, they told, You stupid little moron, you couldn’t get any stupider if we cut your stupid head off with a chainsaw. But same difference.)

Just as bad as the money I lost was the realization that I’d been rooked. After all the rejection I’d already dealt with as a writer, to get my hopes built up then suddenly smashed... I wanted to quit writing altogether.

It was a horrible feeling and an expensive lesson, and I hope other young writers won’t have to pay it."

The Complete Motorcycle Book

The following is an excerpt from pages 2 and 3 of The Complete Motorcycle Book by Jim Bennett.

Your 14-year-old son has just informed you that he must have a motorcycle. The acquisition of a two-wheeled vehicle possessing the same horsepower as your station wagon has suddenly become his only priority. Surprisingly, he has done his homework on this subject. He has become friends with several people who own motorcycles. He has smuggled fringe-group motorcycle magazines into the house. He has memorized the horsepower, displacement, features and popular paint schemes of every motorcycle produced on the planet today. He is fanatically driven and ready to purchase a motorcycle. 

If you are like many parents, the thought of your child racing virtually unprotected down Route 50 at Bonneville Salt Flat speeds fills you with horror. You have spent time, love and money raising him, and he is perhaps only now beginning to show a redeeming quality or two. After all, he is so soft, and all those things on the road are so hard . . . so unforgiving. You have a responsibility to protect him from death, protect your family from the current dysfunctional trauma, and, depending on the situation, protect society from your child.

What should you do?

Post Prom

"Pennsbury High School outside Philadelphia takes its senior prom seriously. No, seriously. Hordes of people in the 73,000-strong local community come out to see the outlandish parade (fire trucks, stretch Hummers) carrying some 1,200 attendants to the school's red carpet. The 2003 prom is the all-stops-out climax of Michael Bamberger's deeply affecting Wonderland.

After winning the principal's blessing, Bamberger visited Pennsbury High about three times a week during the 2002 -- 03 school year, befriending students, teachers, and parents. The senior writer for EW sister mag SPORTS ILLUSTRATED followed a free after-school concert by then-almost-famous Maroon 5, the prom committee's dogged hunt for white-hot John Mayer (whose hit inspired the title), a junior's giving birth, and another student's sudden death." (taken from EW.com's review of Wonderland by Michael Bamberger)

Pretend Prom IV

Okay, so this is the movie-trailer version of my life. I'm sixteen but almost seventeen, named after a Duran Duran song (which was some big-deal group in the eighties that you might have heard of, depending on whether you watch VH1 or MTV). My mom dated one of the members for three weeks back when she was a model, but she's very vague about which one. Still, sometimes I fantasize that it was the really cute one and that he's actually my real dad, and that any day now he'll come claim me and take me away from this crazy house. But the reality is it probably wouldn't be any better, since rock stars aren't exactly known for their stability.

My real dad is "very busy making money for my mom and me and the people that work for him and their families," as well as "upholding the law by defending the innocent," which is the line he's been giving me for every missed school function, birthday, and holiday since I can remember. I mean, he's a defense attorney, but he probably travels more than a rock star, and sometimes I think Larry King and the camera crew at CNN get to talk to him more than I do.

I feel guilty for saying that (even though it's true), because the fact is we're pretty close, and he's my only ally against my mom. But the problem is he's gone so much that I'm usually left to fight my own battles, and believe me, it's exhausting. (taken from page 3 of Art Geeks and Prom Queens by Alyson Noel)

Pretend Prom III

On Thursday, Chloe had a long, serious conversation with Zach Skinner. She explained to him why, as an artist and a poet, she could not subject herself to the intellectual bondage of a sexual/romantic relationship. She needed to remain free in her heart, in her imagination; she needed her soul to remain untouched, unbounded. Without the pressure of loneliness and alienation, what would drive her creativity?

Of course, Zach wasn't actually present for this little speech--it was more of a practice conversation. And it was taking place in the world history section of the Barnes & Noble, with Chloe lying on the floor and talking to her notebook. (from page 107 and 108 of Prom Anonymous by Blake Nelson)

Pretend Prom II

Sophomore year, Nicolette Antonovich was dumped two days before prom by the hottest guy at school. As a result, she became the proud owner of one unworn, perfectly magical pink vintage dress. And she got to stare at it all evening long as a reminder.

But Nic is determined to put that night behind her for good. She's a junior now— older, wiser, and completely overwhelmed by a new set of problems: (1) The bank's ready to foreclose on her childhood home. (2) Her father's too busy with his "replacement" daughter to care. (3) Her best friend's brother is an eternal thorn in her side. (4) Her best friend isn't exactly the rose attached to that thorn. (5) Rumors are flying around school that could get her kicked off the volleyball team, which would (6) ruin all chances of a college scholarship. (7) She still likes the boy who dumped her in the first place. (8) And what in the world do you do with an unworn prom dress, anyway? Strangely, it's getting to the bottom of this last dilemma that just might hold the answer to all Nic's problems. (taken from the back cover of Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress by Tina Ferraro)

Pretend Prom I

What's better than prom? 

READING about prom.

Here's an excerpt from Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson.

"When [Miss Crane] stopped trying to "connect with us" and focused on math, I liked her better. Nat fell in love with her the minute she announced she was the new prom advisor, 'because prom is such a magical moment.' Nat had a thing for magical moments.

Crane was having a crappy day, I could see that right off. Her hair was flat on her head like a 'before' shot in an ad for volumizer spray. She wasn't wearing any foundation, and you could see day-old green eyeliner in the crusty corner of her left eye. She forgot to put on lipstick and she was wearing khakis--khakis!--stretched one size too tight over her thighs, along with a faded red polo shirt.

'What's up with her?' I whispered . . . .

Comics Corner

We have created a special spot by the fire escape--I do not know whether or not that is symbolic--for graphic novels, cartoons, and books about how to create cartoons--both writing and drawing.

 

Keaton's Cartoon World

You can tell that Cartoon World is not real because the library desk is clean.

Easter Bunny

I discovered that there is a considerable amount of nonsense on the web about the Easter Bunny. After reading way too much of it, the following two paragraphs came the closest to summarizing the most sensible-sounding articles I found. Who knows if any of it is based on anything other than legend and hearsay?  And, no, the Easter Bunny has nothing whatever to do with Christianity.

"The Easter Bunny actually stems from pre-Christian fertility lore. A pagan goddess, Eastre, was worshipped by Anglo-Saxons through her symbol, which was a [hare.] Rabbits and hares are known as very fertile animals and because of this, they became symbols of new life during spring.

The bunny's role in Easter began in Germany sometime in the 1500s. When German settlers came to the US colonies in the 1700s, they brought with them their Easter bunny tradition. Called "Oschter Haws," the Easter Bunny's visit was as exciting as when Santa came to town. German children believed that if they were good, the Easter Bunny would lay a nest of colored eggs. Before bed on Easter eve, boys would set out their caps and girls would lay out their bonnets for the bunny to nest in. Baskets were introduced later. Easter was actually not widely celebrated in the United States until after the Civil War." (taken from examiner.com)