Crowning glory

Who will be crowned Mr. Flintridge Prep, 2015? The question hovers in the air as preparations for the pageant begin to accelerate. (the pageant is a mock event: a fundraiser whose proceeds will benefit a local charity.)

A king needs a crown. But what type of crown befits a mock-pageant? Prep's Sewing Club is wrestling with the question as you are reading this.

Henry VIII rocked a cool crown – jeweled and pearled with a royal velvet lining.

As we researched and sketched, we found the intersection of antiquity and technology: Henry’s crown has been 3-D printed. And the code is available.

Watch the process here:

Intrigued? You can download the code and make a crown for yourself (if you have the SLS printer). Click on the blue "download this thing" box.

The result: A precious item reserved for the few becomes accessible to many. In lots of ways, I am grateful for the Internet's ability to make art, images, archival films, writings and letters available to us for enjoyment and enrichment.

-Mrs. Eldridge

Mr. Flintridge Prep, 2015, will take place on March 20, 2015 @ 6:30 pm in Norris Auditorium at Flintridge Preparatory School. Tickets will be available the week before the event. Please see the Prep website for further information.

It Starts.

photo by Simon Burchell from collection of British Museum
Alabaster statue of an Ocelot from Teotihuacan, 5th-6th century

Welcome to the ancient world. The birth of democracy and philosophy. The advent of assassination as a political tool. The rise and fall of civilizations and empires. Many lessons, many topics.


The ninth grade research paper writing process is officially on. Students are primed and ready; some are already deciding on topics. Wars, strategies, squabbles over land and sea, justice and injustice. We are about to dive in - to learn as much as we can in just a few weeks and to exit this process as changed individuals. Wiser. More accomplished as researchers and writers. Definitely more humble (speaking for myself here).


Grady Willard will join forces with Mr. Roffina's classes in March, guiding students through their final edits with his compassion and honesty, making suggestions in the Google Docs sidebar, meeting one-on-one with students. When Grady offers criticism, he brings you to a new way of thinking about your subject and method of organizing thoughts. He says the word "yes" a lot, and affirms your process and subtly guides you to a new understanding. You leave realizing that you've been critiqued, but not criticized.


It is time to dust off my memory of ancient things, to replay the Battle of Marathon, recall all things feudal, revisit the philosophers and thinkers. And to re-discover where I found that really great information last year. Game on.


-Mrs. Eldridge

A Happy, happy meal.

Guess what was in my Happy Meal yesterday?

If you guessed a tiny copy of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, you would be correct.

Books in Happy Meals: it is a thrilling thought. Now a whole new set of folks will have a shorthand phrase, “…if you give a mouse a cookie…” to describe a series of events drawn into play by one simple action.

As I was appreciating all of the young (and not-so-young) readers and the pairs of child-adult readers, I plunged into a chasm of doubt: what if reading doesn’t matter? (I blame the french fries here)

What if print reading, or reading in any format doesn’t make you a better person, or a person more equipped to make their own choices? An unthinkable thought for a librarian….yet….

One of our seniors responded to my query, “What if we don’t need to read at all?”

BL: There are things that books can do that movies and other visual media cannot, like empathy. Also, I think it is important for our brains to be activated by words.

Posing the same question to one of our juniors, I got this reply:

JP: Reading relaxes me, I take 10-20 minutes each evening to read – more if I have time – but I make sure that I read every day. For me, it is all about the stories. I find stories often give you hope and faith, like the book I just read, I’ll Give You the Sun. I like stories because they help you figure out how to live your life. I read every night before I go to bed because it's a nice way to separate yourself from all of the stuff going on in your own life, and get lost in someone else's story for a little while.

This web article supports JP and BL’s thoughts nicely, and points to some recent research:

http://mic.com/articles/104702/science-shows-something-surprising-about-people-who-love-reading-fiction

Back to the essential question of reading; Tim Parks, in his blog post for the New York Review of Books, writes,  "there are many ways to live a full, responsible, and even wise life that do not pass through reading literary fiction.” Perhaps, as a librarian, I am biased toward the benefits of reading, yet I am not finished thinking about the value of reading. Guess that is as it should be.

-Mrs. Eldridge

Reading in the Rain - A Sampling from the Class of 2015

Last week it rained. Which was wonderful for two reasons: first, we needed rain. Second, the seniors  exchanged a soggy senior patio for the warmth of the library. A handful were gathered near the big red reading chairs. Here is a sampling of their reading choices: 

 L.B. class of 2015: Alana the First Adventure by Tamora Pierce. “I’m not reading this now, but if you ask me what book I’ve really enjoyed, it would be the first book in the Alanna series. Tamora Pierce is my favorite author of all time. At my old school, this book got passed from friend to friend, from grade to grade: it was read by lots of people. I’ve recommended it to two people at Prep already today. The main character, Alanna, is not a perfect human – but she still pushes herself to achieve her goal of becoming a knight. Her temper does not go magically away, but she learns to live with herself and her quirks breaking gender stereotypes along the way.”
 

R.D. class of 2015: Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole.  “I am totally captivated by Confederacy of Dunces. Some people really hate it though. Everyone has met someone like the main character, Ignatius J. Reilly. He is wholly unsatisfied and disgusted with contemporary society, yet he contributes nothing. I see a lot of myself in him. There is a piece of Ignatius in everyone.”





 

S.M. class of 2015: Deliverance by James Dickey. “The book is harrowing, more so than the movie because the drama is more drawn out. These are normal people in an extraordinary situation: the common man doing uncommon things. The last 100 pages are like pure adrenaline. And, it’s a story about a canoe ride.”






 

A.P. class of 2015: The Brothers Karamazov by Fodor Dostoyevsky. “I’m not even done with it, but I think you would like it. It is a well-told story and it has the answer to every question you could ever ask. It’s hard to read – but it feels good when you understand it. It envelopes you.”








With clear skies and temperatures near the 80s, it is hard to believe it rained last week - but near the foothills here, I saw the shimmer of new green sprouts on the hillside.  More rain would be nice. Hmmm. More seniors in the library again would be nice, too. 

Mrs. Eldridge

Faces of Movember

Supporters of Movember in and around the Chandramohan Library at Prep:

Mo Bros hosting a Movember bake sale

Right outside the library's doors, bake sales are held (you can image how this could be good and bad at the same time). Today's sale featured delicious goodies - some hand made by members of the Men's Cross Country team at Prep. Besides the delicious assortment of baked goods, information was available explaining the Movember movement. Alumni James Woolley shared information and good cheer. Alex joined him at the table.

Scroll down. See more Mo Bros and Mo Sisters (surprise at the end):

 

 

Mo Bro in the downstairs library

Mo Bro in a study room

 

Mo Bros in the Conversation Nook

Mo Bros just outside the library

Librarian Mo Sisters

What! You are not surprised that we dressed the part?

 

 Today we put a different face on, mixing together community and activism in the library. 

 

 

 

-Mrs. Eldridge



It Wasn't all Unicorns and Rainbow Sparkles

Monterey morning

It wasn't all unicorns and rainbow sparkles at the Internet Librarian 2014 this year, but it was a solid look at where the profession is at the moment.

Aside from almost setting my room (and the Portola Hotel and Spa) on fire, it was a flawless trip.

Perfect weather, great sessions.

Nina Simon, from the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, lit up the stage with her keynote: a story of change and opportunity. A story of risk-taking and creativity during challenging times. As Nina said, "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste." I am in complete agreement with Daniel Cornwall of Alaska, "best keynote I've ever been to" (Daniel's blog has other summaries of sessions from Internet Librarian, and they are good).

Nina's Ted Talk (and blog)


 Josh Hanagarne , the World's Strongest Librarian, reads 200-300 pages a day - and is able to extemporaneously illustrate an idea with the perfect quote from a relevant reading. Oh, what a talent that is. Josh's keynote, both vulnerable and intriguing, unpacked the rhetoric behind the question, "Is Technology Changing our Brains?"  Here are some links you might enjoy:
Josh's keynote from 2013

Tweets from the keynote

Reading list from keynote (partial)



There were more sessions, excellent also. And wonderful, insightful conversations, and kindnesses (thank you, Nancy). I'm grateful for the opportunity to attend, sad to see it end, hopeful for next year.

-Mrs. Eldridge


David Mitchell Marathon

I have a question for you: what are you reading right now that you cannot put down? Or, what have you read recently that you could not put down? There is a reason I'm wondering: I've just finished a book marathon. It was good. It was delicious, but it's over.

Here is the scoop:
 In style, prose and structure, CloudAtlas is profound; asking life’s most essential questions without smothering the stories. A Prep student and I are debating whether this is our best-book-of-all-time selection.

The high point of the marathon was, The Reason I Jump; The Inner Voice of a 13 Year Old Boy with Autism.  Mitchell co-translated The Reason I Jump and wrote a compelling introduction that sets the stage for Naoki Higashida to tell his story. Emotional and exceptionally truthful, Naoki’s message is straightforward, “don’t give up on us. Please keep battling alongside us.”

Higashida explains, “From your point of view, the world of autism must look like a deeply mysterious place.” The Reason I Jump uprooted my previous model of life on the autistic spectrum.  The essence of Higashida’s world - accepting the mantle of otherness, and revealing its emotional highs and lows- hit a reset button for me. I don’t know what the result will be, but this book not only made me think deeply, but differently. Higashida said, “once you know the other person’s inner self, both of you can be that much closer.”

The Bone Clocks is Mitchell’s newest novel. The plot winds around and through the life the main character, Holly Sykes. The supporting characters are flawed; self-absorbed, snarky, down-on-their-luck, or drowning in grief, yet they are revealed so fully that I adjusted my initial resistance and enjoyed their stories. There is an other-world plot to the story, but I won’t spoil it for you.

 

It was a marathon of excellent writing, fresh and unpredictable – completely enjoyable. And now, a quest for the next book(s). Any suggestions?

 

-Mrs. Eldridge