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I ended up reading The Mustard Seed, Followed by How The Grinch Stole Christmas

October 4, 2005

(The Grinch was Coley's request) & actually, it was amazing how well these two stories complimented each other. In the middle of the Grinch, I paused and asked the children if the Grinch was looking for a mustard seed when he raided the homes of Whoville. They laughed. I asked what the Grinch was feeling. L said "anger." I read on & M interrupted me and said "Maybe the Grinch is JEALOUS."

Mission accomplished. But even further...what is the Who's place in that jealousy? Where does that jealousy come from? Could it be that jealousy is not the root emotion, but exclusion is the cause? Could the Whos have done more to include the grinch in their celebration? How is the Grinch like the woman in the mustard seed? At the beginning of the Mustard Seed story, they talk briefly about the fact that the woman was disregarded by her community until she had the child - how did that affect her response to the death of the child? Was she excluded as well? How were they ultimately reunited with themselves and their community?

It's amazing how rich things get when you have a group of thoughtful and engaged children to hang out with. Monk wanted to know if maybe Dr. Seuss was a Buddhist. I said "You know, a lot of things that Buddhist stories relate are universal, so they are things that can be revealed and experienced and recounted whether you are a Buddhist or not. I guess in that way, we are all Buddhists."

Yay.

Posted at 11:16 AM • Comments (0) • TrackBack

If you aren't reading the Lemony Snicket books...

February 15, 2005

You should be. I am amazed at the quality of the writing and the "morals" that are conveyed. Monk is now keeping a commonplace book so he can write down his thoughts and observations. This is something I have been encouraging him to do for years now, and one book (well, series of books) has done the trick.

It is a most incredible series, and I truly owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Snicket, aka Daniel Handler. I feel like the books are really helping me pilot the kids through troublesome times of their own. It might sound cheesy, but the grace and dignity with which the Baudelaire orphans deal with the series of unfortunate events is inspiring to them. And there are layers upon layers of yummy literary goodness in all of the books. Snicket seems to go to great pains to subtly but directly avoid the boring stereotypes of children's literature. The bad "guys" aren't all bad. The good "guys" sometimes do bad things. There's even a non-evil stepFATHER in the current book.

As far as morals and education goes, the book teaches much in a totally absorbable format. We've learned all about mushrooms, various cuisines (our unfortunate potluck will be next month, on the 13th of March) and all sorts of literary elements and aphorisms. In this latest book, we learned about "Hobson's choices." All of this is presented without any degree of condescension, and a great deal of humor and fun. And all throughout, the importance of reading and creating is reinforced.

We're on chapter 13 of book the 11th, and I'm somewhat disappointed that I will have to wait until the next book is released before I get another fix. I wonder if he will end the series at 13 books, as each book has 13 chapters. And then what will we do?

I guess Monk will have to invent some unfortunate events of his own!

Posted at 11:16 AM • Comments (6) • TrackBack

Red Diaper Baby

January 5, 2004

Red Diaper Baby # 3 is finally out! Red Diaper Baby is a zine about radical parenting and activism and RDB # 3 is all about anti-corporate parenting. Articles include 'The Selling of Education' by Juleigh Howard-Hobson, a great article on raising feminist children by Stacey Greenberg (of Fertile Ground), and the RDB guide to anti-corporate parenting. Also included in this issue are two delicious vegan recipes and lots more!

To order a copy please send $2 (cash or cheque made out to Becky Ellis) to:

Red Diaper Baby
PO Box 23111
355 Wellington St.
London, Ontario, Canada
N6A 5N9

A subscription is $8 and pays for four issues of Red Diaper Baby.

ALSO, the theme of the Spring issue of Red Diaper Baby will be about community activism and parenting (including activism within the co-operative movement). I am looking for submissions on this topic (or any other topic that falls within the realm of activist and/or radical parenting). Submissions can be in the form of essays, pictures, articles, poems, cartoons, even short blurbs. If you have had an experience or have an opinion about community activism and parenting, please consider submiting to RDB # 4!

Any questions? Email Becky at isismama1@yahoo.com

Please forward widely.

Posted at 11:32 PM • Comments (0) • TrackBack

How Very Cool

May 17, 2003

So, i e-mailed the guy from Cool Beans to see if I could get the track listing of that CD, and he promptly e-mailed me back with way more information than I asked for.

I found out that the singer I'm crushing on is the singer for Queen Cobra. She is, in fact, a woman. Which is fine and everything, but I feel bad for thinking (assuming) it was a man.

AND. I found out that the Matt Kelly who puts out Cool Beans is in fact the very same Matt Kelly I knew back when, you guessed it, I was in high school. What is the deal with this stuff lately? I mean, I had always kind of wondered if he was the same Matt Kelly (because I've read cool beans for years and years) but...there are so many Matt Kelly's out there I thought it would be dumb to assume.

Still, I think it's very cool to be able to talk to him again...I'm looking forward to the update. He said he came to my blog and couldn't figure out who I was. Hahahaha. The joys of a pseudonym. I should have strung him along a little longer before telling him who I am, but I came right out with it like a big dork.

So, it's nice to know that people I liked way back when are still doing cool shit now. Cheers, Matt Kelly. Good ta know ya.

Posted at 10:08 PM • Comments (6) • TrackBack

This is interesting...

April 21, 2003

Now that I've finished reading the book, I'm totally missing my meywrench pals. And to think I only just last week scoffed audibly at my management assistant for expressing morbidity over the conclusion of his role playing game.

dja-ever have a book that affected you that way? What was it, so I can add it to my reading list.

And my kingdom (and a blog crush) for someone who can create a meywrench gang blog along the lines as those bush and co blogs.

Posted at 12:23 PM • Comments (1) • TrackBack