encouraging children of savannah to SING

I know, I know, I'm not supposed to make financial decisions whilst recovering from anesthesia, but the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one...

or something like that.

I recall Spock saying that to Kirk in one of the "Star Trek" movies, and it seems to be just as apt here.

The children's choral group, SING!, is having a concert later this month.

Titled "How Can I Keep From Singing?", it has drawn me in! 

That concert is free, as have been all of their concerts at Asbury Memorial.

Sure, they usually pass the hat, so to speak, at some point in the show, but the draw for me is that the music is free for the soul.

This event on the 25th will differ, though.

While the concert itself is gratis, the Italian dinner afterward is not.

That will be a fundraiser for Savannah Inspiring Next Generation - that is, SING - and I intend to do my part, both with the eating and the giving, that is.

An actual chef is doing the cooking, so "That's Amore" should bring a taste of Italy back to my heart and spirit.

Plus, there will be more music woven into the meal!

That's why I chose to donate the money "in memory of", rather than having it be counted toward one of the competing teams.

The Asbury Memorial songbird was the person that came to mind.

I know in my heart that Joan Hester Byrd would dearly love these kids.

(smile!)

reading is an adventure!

Tonight, I volunteered to be part of Read United Day!

That will be at the end of this month.

What prompted me to do such a thing?

I attended the Reading Buddy Backup training this evening.

My friend Sherry G has been after me for several months to join her in this endeavor, and when the training was finally offered, I went.

So, children, you can thank Mrs. Sherry for that!

And children of Pulaski Elementary School, y'all can thank her, too!

I'll be at that school for two sessions on Read United Day.

I'm really excited to be part of this!

just say "NO" to dyes in food

This latest petition from Consumer Reports is about dyes in children's lunch foods, but why stop there, if the dyes have been linked to behavioral issues?

Aramark, Sodexo, and Chartwells, please heed this call!

Children have enough to deal with in their small bodies.

Aramark, Sodexo, and Chartwells, please stop putting dyes in their school lunches.

Aramark, Sodexo, and Chartwells, please stop putting dyes in any products for children.

Are natural coloring agents not available?

As an analytical chemist, I am sure there are dyes from natural sources, such as red from beets and orange from carrots.

Aramark, Sodexo, and Chartwells, please consider the current health of our future leaders.

Please.

Here is the link to the petition.

Dear readers, please sign to encourage Aramark, Sodexo, and Chartwells to seek out more healthy options for America's youth.

watching movies to help kids!

Seriously!

I could scarce believe it myself when I was approached with the idea.

But there the offer was, and from the cable TV company of all things.

Seriously!

Here's the hook used.

 

"Enjoy a $1 movie this weekend, and Xfinity Rewards will match the purchase and donate to BUILD.org, up to $100,000."

 

I know, there's a catch, right?

It's going to cost me a dollar to rent a movie.

But, that's any movie I want, up to $5.99 rental, to enjoy for two days or three days, depending on the movie.

Oh, and there's one more catch.

I have to select the movie by midnight on Sunday.

Yeah, that won't be an issue.

Oh, plus there's another caveat: the offer must be claimed every weekend.

It doesn't automatically enroll me for subsequent weekends.

Yeah, that won't be an issue, either.

The fundraiser for BUILD.org will run every weekend this month and next.

That's a total of nine - 9!!! - movies for a buck, for me.

I don't know if "match the purchase" means Comcast is donating the dollar or if they're donating the usual rental fee for the movies I choose.

If the latter is the case, then the group that helps underprivileged teens learn how to be entrepreneurs will be receiving $3.99 for each of the two movies I've rented.

If the former is the deal, then they'll still be getting $1 per movie.

Either way, it's money they did not have before.

That's a winner in my book!

Thanks, Comcast, for making me a deal I couldn't refuse!

(smile!)

gifting science to a niece, a great-niece and one great-nephew

Once upon a time, I was in charge of sharing science with locals and those visiting Savannah during National Chemistry Week.

That seems like forever ago, though it was October 2019.

The pandemic has certainly changed how time is viewed.

I had already retired before that event, so I had time to do it up right - gathering materials from the City of Savannah Water Management team and from the American Chemical Society, test-driving experiments to find those that worked best in the allotted times, getting the right to perform the experiments in Morrell Park downtown, making sure the event found its way into the press and onto the airwaves.

I ended up overgathering, as it turned out.

The leftover chemistry materials and science activity books have been languishing in my living room closet ever since.

No more!

More than 25 sets of the two activity books, as well as 45 self-inflating balloons for one of the demonstrations, are on their way to Louisville, Georgia, where Ally lives.

That great-niece will be 13 years old on June 2nd.

I know she will be thrilled to share science with her 7th-grade class!

 

Another 25 sets of the two activity books, plus fifty sparkly pencils, as well as the kits and instructions to make uv-detecting armbands, are on their way to Sumiton, Alabama.

That's the home of the niece that shares my birthday of May 29th!

She'll be 10 years old and she loves science.

I'm sure her 4th-grade classmates will much appreciate the fun activities during these last two weeks of school!

That left me with about 40 of the "Saving Savannah's Water" activity books.

I had crammed the medium flat-rate boxes from the Post Office as full as I could get them - and they were so very heavy! - but these books would not fit.

Now what to do?

Then the idea popped into my head: why not give them to Sebi's school?

What a marvelous idea!!!

I even told the school secretary that I had been there recently for my great-nephew's first communion, making them top of mind.

She was thrilled to receive the books!

And I am thrilled to have all of that science into the hands of those who will use it.

 

Yes, this has been a very fulfilling day!

i thank You, God.

jelli and the gnawzler: creatures on the wall!

Swimming in the ocean of the Kickstarter Wall
Jelli Oculari floats among the Okinawan fronds
while the Orange Gnawzler creeps and crawls
through the flowery undergrowth.

My thanks, once more, to the two women behind this project!

pandamonium artwork!

She's here!!!
Robin, the dieselpunk pirate panda, is here!!!
In a plain white envelope, she traveled to my home.
I had thought there might be a Christmas card enclosed.
Even better!
Thank you so much, Patrick! I have so enjoyed being a backer of your kickstarter project.
I am so looking forward to the book's arrival!

oskar and klaus find bigfoot!

Those two cats certainly lead a busy life!
Check out their Friskies music video with Grumpy Cat and friends! That fundraiser for hungry kittehs everywhere was featured in the "Huffington Post"!
You can also read about it here, in the Rolling Stone!!!
Even Jon Stewart featured them on "The Daily Show"!!!!
Oskar and Klaus have so many adventures together!
The bfe and I do, too.
That's one of the reasons I am so excited about the timing of this book's arrival. You see, my bfe (best friend extraordinaire) has a birthday later this very week! I had so hoped to be able to surprise him with this extra special treat, and, thanks to Mick Szydlowski and company, that hope is reality!
I must be doing something right!
I believe I was directed toward kickstarter at just the right time to find this project. Not only would my support benefit the production of the book - and the audiobook! - but the reward would be a magnificent gift for my favorite "thirteen-year-old boy" (his words for himself).
Like Bigfoot, my friend is an excellent cook, using fancy recipes that I would never prepare. Dinners at his place are a treat for the eyes as well as the tastebuds and nose!
Like Bigfoot, he also has recently become a jazz aficionado and has quite a record collection. How cool is that?
And, like Bigfoot, he likes hot tea and has a tea kettle.
Unlike Bigfoot, he is not allergic to cats and has two old ladies he loves dearly. His two girls, Chloe and Contessa, would certainly have quite a fun time with such gentlemanly cats as Oskar and Klaus!
However, Seattle is quite a long haul from this city by the sea.
I do so hope the kittehs here will be read this glorious adventure, perhaps as a bedtime tale to inspire sweet dreams...
I'll be sure that happens!

What about the patch, you ask?

That belongs to me!

I'm thrilled to belong to "an INCLUSIVE club for anyone who seeks to make each day an adventure"!

imagination is a superpower!

"A Cape!" has arrived!

I am so thrilled!

Today, "A Cape!" arrived in my mailbox!

Not literally a cape, of course.
Sure, there could have been a cape there, but I did not order one, so it would have been a huge surprise for me if a cape arrived at my house.

I knew this was coming, even though I had not personally ordered it.
Marty Kelley ordered it for me.


Well, not actually for me.

The book is for my nephew, Conner.
He's one of the most fearless boys I've ever met. He's never met a wall he couldn't climb, a tree that stood in his way, or any obstacle that truly was.
He starts the first grade next fall.
As I said before, when I saw this project on kickstarter, I immediately thought of this particular nephew and knew I had to support the author in honor of Conner.

Just look at that personalized autograph!

Conner is going to love it!

I think his big brother, Merritt, is going to be a little jealous.
That's okay.
I have another project's reward for him.



I haven't decided what I'll do with the poster.
Maybe I'll give that to Conner, too.
Maybe it will find a place on my Kickstarter Wall in my Ocean Room.
I still have a couple of months to decide on that.

But I am for sure keeping the bookmark!

Look at the sheer glee on his face!

What jubilation at being young and invincible!

I especially like this side, of course!
It echoes Einstein's thoughts on imagination being more important than knowledge.

But I also like the imagery.
The little boy leaps into the air, crashes down, and still flashes a 'thumbs up!" to signal that all is well.
Keep on trying, just keep on trying!

Great message.

there's a new queen bee in Chicago!

(No, this bee is not from Illinois, but Georgia. I wrote about him here. I just thought the photo was appropriate for this post, too.)

Today, I received an email that made me cry.
Tears of happineess, tears of joy, tears of gratitude.
Thank you, Jana, for sharing your news... and making me part of it.
This is truly why I support projects on kickstarter. I want to believe that Mama's money is helping people achieve their dreams, make a difference, pay it forward.

Update #12
Jul 25 2014 1:40 PM
Third Summer

Hello Backers,

I just wanted to share some thoughts I had the other day.

I was out checking on two of my hives down in Fuller Park, one of which was queenless. Sometimes hives become queenless because she gets squished or injured, sometimes it's just a mystery. This time, I had killed her. She wasn't a good queen. She didn't lay eggs consistently, and earlier in the year the colony had sacbrood. Since the queen is the only bee laying eggs in the whole hive, a viral disease like sacbrood originates with the queen. It was a painful Executive Decision but I knew it would be better for the colony in the long run.

After I got rid of the original queen, we transferred over queen cells (young, pupating queens) from the other healthy hive nearby. Soon a virgin queen would emerge from one of those cells, and after she's mated, the colony would accept her as the new matriarch. I left the garden, and hoped that everything would go as planned.

I came back a week later, and even though I knew a queen had already emerged, they are so small before they are mated and laying eggs that it's hard to spot them. They look like any other worker bee — almost. But, I just wanted to peek inside the hive anyways. I opened up the hive and carefully removed a frame, and OH MAN! I spotted the virgin queen! There she was, looking trim and not quite regal yet. How on EARTH did I spot her? And how lucky was I... She was on the first frame I grabbed! She walked amongst the other worker bees, who don't regard her with much respect yet. I can't explain it, but, queen bees, even when not yet mated, walk around with this... "air" about them. Like they have something on their mind. I mean, I know they don't, but I was so impressed by my trained eye that I could spot her.

I carefully put the frame back into the hive, closed the lid, and got on my bike. The sun was shining and just starting to get low in the sky; it was a heavenly Chicago summer afternoon. I was done with beekeeping for the day, and what a perfect way to end it. Getting to see a virgin queen, one small insect that was about to make a dangerous journey out of the hive to mate with neighborhood drones. I couldn't believe it. Suddenly I became overwhelmed with emotions (this happens often while beekeeping) and I started to cry. I thought about how this is my life now. That I get to do this every week and that it's the most fulfilling thing I have ever done.

I want to share this because I would not be beekeeping in this capacity if it wasn't for my Kickstarter backers. You guys LITERALLY (and I am using this word appropriately) changed my entire life. You, who donated a little bit of money, collectively changed my life. I wanted to share this because my project was a unique one... It wasn't a product or an event, it was an ambitious idea that I couldn't do by myself. You really took a risk with this one, but there is so much your money has done.

Not only has it changed my life, it's changed the lives of countless urban gardeners, neighbors, and community groups who now have a positive relationship with pollinators. Children all over Chicagoland who were once scared now care about bees now because of Bike a Bee, or as they know me, "the bee girl." Bike a Bee's education efforts are the most important aspect of the project for me.

On a personal level, my favorite accomplishment with Bike a Bee has been mentoring Abby, an intern I took on last year. Abby worked with me almost every day I went beekeeping last year, and I got to see her turn into a fantastic beekeeper. She even got to be a part of the business side, helping us become a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit. This year, Abby is caring for her own Bike a Bee hives and also beekeeping with me (we really love working together). The other night she told me she couldn't imagine a life without beekeeping. So not only did you change my life, you changed Abby's.

The long and short of it is: I don't think a lot of people on Kickstarter realize that they are changing people's lives when they throw $20 at a project. I just wanted to remind you that you are, and while I am enjoying my third summer beekeeping, I want to thank you with all of my heart for backing this project back in the winter of 2012.

- Jana (+ the bees)

I am so touched that she wrote this, to share her news and her gratitude.
Her mother must be very proud of her - I am.

adventures of oskar & klaus: the search for bigfoot

Okay! This will be the first audiobook I have supported on kickstarter!
True, when Mick Syzdlowski and Travis Bossard, best buddies and co-authors, first announced this project, all they were trying to do was print a 32-page hardcover version of the book. The book would also be illustrated by Alex Novoseltsev, so some funds would be used to pay the artist.
That's cool.
The story is about Oskar, the blind cat, and his good buddy, Klaus.
That is really cool.
A blind cat? And his cat companion, who helps look out for him on their adventures?
When has that ever been done before???
Count me in!
Apparently, many agree with me.
On the same day that they announced the project on kickstarter, they attained their goal.
Seriously.
On that first day, they raised more than the $10,000 needed for the book.
That encouraged them to think more grandly. Rather than have only the book for those with visual acuity, why not also have an audio version for the blind?
That would require much, much, much more money. Like, at least $50,000.
Why not go for it? The project has until June 6th to collect funding, so that would give them 29 days - and much good word-of-mouth advertising - to see if it could be done.
Why not, indeed?
That course of action has worked out very well. By the time I had joined as a backer this morning, they were already well past $40,000 and still had three days left.
Bravo!!!
They have even already cast the voice of Bigfoot! Will Braden, a well-known man in the world of "Henri, le Chat Noir" has signed on for the role.
What will I get for my $29 of birthday money?
You mean, besides the satisfaction of helping a well-deserving project?
Let me tell you what I get.
An actual copy of the beautifully-illustrated book.
An embroidered patch for the Oskar & Klaus Adventure Sociery!!! Woohoo!!!
A digital wallpaper pack of the art in the book!!!
A digital download of the audio version of the book!!! (I just know they're going to hit that stretch goal!! Positive thoughts!!!)
This is going to be good, y'all.

pandamonium: a steampunk adventure

Adventure!!!
That's my magic word, y'all.
So, that was the first item that caught my attention: that one word, adventure.
But a steampunk adventure??? Are you kidding me???
With a Panda?!?!
Well... that sounds too cool to miss!
The cherry on top?
The panda is female.
Yep, Patrick Scullin has given the world a steampunk Panda heroine!
Of course, this isn't his first foray into the world of female leads. He's the author of a comic strip that features a geeky brother and sister duo. Click here for a cool tribute to both science fiction and sibling rivalry.
I like that the book is already written.
I like that it is even already available, in a trade format.
But I especially like that the author wants to dress it up, make it fully illustrated, turn it into a treasure.
It hasn't yet hit its funding goal, but I'm sure it will. The deadline is still a week away and all the author lacks is $500.
I want to help him make it there with some of my birthday money from my stepmom. So, he gets $37 and I'll get the fully illustrated book, autographed by him! And an autographed art print!! And a collectible bookmark - which I just may give to my stepmom.
You know, to share my surfeit of riches.
I really think she will enjoy that. She may want to read the book, too!

chalk talk, ditdahing in the house

(poster by Wyatt Ramsey)

It's almost musical, isn't it? All percussive, but that's what draws you in.
dit dah dit dah, ditditdit, dit dah, dit dah ditdit, dah dit dah,
dah, dit dah, dit dah ditdit, dah dit dah
Chalk Talk.
As a professor, I am quite familiar with the sounds of chalk striking a slate.
As a former member of the US Navy, I am also familiar with the sounds of Morse code. I used to even play around with it a bit, and one of my favorite expressions whilst stationed in Okinawa was "4 dits, 3 dits, 2 dits, a dah"!
I'll leave you to decipher that one.
When I first found this kickstarter project, I had thought support of it would be a fitting memorial for my recently deceased stepdad, who served this country during World War II. After all, the film was to feature a man from that long-past era, at an elementary school in the company of his young grandson for show-and-tell.
In late May of 2012, I saw the film at the Trustees Theatre, part of those screened for the "16 x 9 Revealed" showcase of senior films. What a treat to see it on the big screen! Even better, the film won two awards: Best Narrative Undergraduate Film, and Best Short Film Screenplay for an Undergraduate Film. Good work, Chris Durenberger!
I was able to see the film larger-than-life one more time, on October 29th, during the 2012 Savannah Film Festival, as one of the student films entered into the competition. How very sweet to see this tale of love lost and found gracing the silver screen once more! And to have that viewing in one of my favorite venues, the beautiful Lucas Theatre!
Soon, I thought, I shall have my reward and have the dvd in my very own home!
Time passed, people graduated and moved on, other film festivals (with other wins!) intervened. You know how life is, right?
In truth, I forgot to keep looking in the mail for it. I would let it be a pleasant surprise one fine day, I must have thought.
Recently, I have been reminded that the responsibility of making sure rewards are sent is partly mine.
When I contacted Chris, he responded right away. Yeah! He assured me he would locate the disks and speed one on its way from his left coast city by the sea to my right coast city by the sea.
Cool beans!
And today I arrived home to find it already in my mailbox!!! Not even a week has elapsed!
What a special pick-me-upper on this rainy, drear day, the second such in a row this week. How wonderful to watch, again, as the old man takes pause when he stumbles upon the faded photo in his box of medals, the photo of his love long lost. The film was as bright and fresh as my memory of the story still was.
Thanks, Chris, for brightening my day yet again!
I wish you much future success!

sweet dreams, rip van winkle

This is how the conversation went on fb,
Monday, 24 Feb 2014:

me: Wow! Thanks, Bryan!
What a treat to find it here,
sleeping soundly in my mailbox,
cuddled in the latest issue of "Time"!
Coincidence??? :D

Only later did I find that he had
actually placed the dvd in the mailbox
two days earlier (Saturday evening),
but I had misread his fb nessage
to me at that time.
What dvd, you ask?

Well, the kickstarter reward I wrote of last summer, of course! Savannah Stage Company has been quite busy, with new productions, improv, and fundraising since their project launched in 2012.
I've attended several events they've hosted, but those were improv shows and a fabulously fun fundraiser. Sadly, though, my schedule had not yet allowed me the distinct pleasure of seeing them enact a cohesive performance.
That has now been rectified, as I have watched the troupe perform "Rip Van Winkle: A New Musical", on my own schedule, and will doubtless watch it again and again. You see, it is not quite the same old anti-sloth story we know from reading the works of Washington Irving in our grade-school days.
Oh, no.
For starters, it's been reinvented as a musical. The multi-talented men - and women - of Savannah Stage Company use the musical lyrics to move your toes, as well as the story, along a merry path from the village, up the mountain, and back down again. With only four players, and minimal costume changes, they bring to life more than double that number of distinctive characters.
There are no bowling dwarfs in this version, either. Instead, enter the trickster Diedrich Knickerbocker, the one who will make all of your dreams - whether good or bad - come true. We see the villagers recoil from the mere utterance of his name, as if he is the devil incarnate.
Well, not so to Rip van Winkle, nor to his son, who is growing up listening to his dad weave tales instead of tapestries. In fact, we see that Rip doesn't do much in the way of work, and what little he does is done so poorly that it would have been better left undone. That's just the way he likes it, too. If he had his druthers, he would tell tales in the village square all day, every day.
Washington Irving was quite a tale-teller, too. As a matter of record, he even used several pseudonyms, allowing him to write in different styles, different voices. This musical pays homage to two personae of the prolific writer. Take the trickster, Diedrich Knickerbocker - he was "a Dutch historian", famous for having written "A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty". The "historian" was also credited with the narration of the story of Rip van Winkle as one of 34 pieces collected in "The Sketchbook", by Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Neither Knickerbocker nor Crayon were any more real than van Winkle was - all products of a fertile imagination.
Pretty clever of Irving!
And very clever of the Savannah Stage Company! Thanks for making sure I did my literature research and homework!
Kindly take note, any teachers of the English language.

the scots went to the fringe of scotland!

The Scots
of Highland Park High School
in Kansas
are back
from their trip to Scotland!

Actually, they've been back
since the end of the festival
in August of 2012.
The students all had a wonderful time, as evidenced in this "Thank You" video.
I was sure they would!
I know firsthand how rewarding it is to travel to a new place and have strangers appreciate your work.

It is especially rewarding
when that play is
an original,
a piece
never
before
enacted.
Pretty heady stuff, indeed!

Such excitement to have
your work
included on a display
for the whole world to see!!!
Well,
the part of the world
there in Scotland
for the Fringe Festival!!!
Such a thrilling adventure!


However, there is a responsibility which has not yet been met.
The "Rewards Survey" was sent to me in June of 2013. I responded quickly, knowing how precious those summer days are to teachers. The creator of the kickstarter project, Scott Kickhaefer, is a teacher in the Fine Arts department at the Scots' high school in Kansas.
I'm a teacher, too, here in Savannah.
And I have patiently waited for the reply to that survey.
As a supporter at the level I selected, I was to have received a video of their performance at the theatre festival. I also was to receive a note and an autographed company picture.
I have received nothing, as of this date.

Today, I sent another message to the creator.
I do hope he will soon respond.

Rip Van Winkle sleeps no more!

When I first backed this musical by the Savannah Stage Company, I didn't know how well it would succeed. Please do not misunstand me: I had hoped it would. But their dream was so lofty, and so different, and I honestly did not know how well the school system would accept it.
But "Rip Van Winkle: A New Musical" has done quite well!

In an update posted on October 30th of last year, we backers were told:
On November 5th, Savannah Stage Company opens Rip Van Winkle: A New Musical at the Moses Jackson Center in Savannah. Our first performance will be for a group of senior citizens from West Savannah that the Moses Jackson serves, as a 'thank you' to them for providing us a home to rehearse in. They have been extremely welcoming to us and very accommodating.
Later this month we'll perform the show 2 more times for elementary school aged children and, since we've decided to extend this tour until the end of the school year, we're continuing to book shows for next year. If you haven't been keeping up with our progress on Facebook, we encourage you to take a look at some of our rehearsal photos and be on the lookout for production photos once we open.
This tour is coming to life daily and we're doing our best to share our progress with you. Without you guys this thing would never have been possible and we're reminded everyday of how lucky we are. Thank you for your continued support. Be on the lookout for our website launching mid-November. Have a Happy Halloween!

Since then, there have been shows at an art gallery and at several libraries! I have not yet managed to catch any of these shows, but you can see my name here, on the troupe's website.
I'll keep my eye out for the postman to bring my video soon!

up the creek, with a good paddle

Sen3Productions completed their film in December of last year, thanks to me and the other four kickstarter backers. I received the dvd in the mail just a few days ago and finally made time to truly sit and watch.
Most impressive and gratefully real.
I sent the following to the makers of "Allegheny Creek".
fliss wrote on March 12, 2012
I have just finished watching your film on dvd. Wow.
When I provided support to your project, I had only the knowledge that a man was seeking redemption. I had not expected the story itself to so closely parallel that of my youngest brother. When he is released, I will be sure to have him view it.
BTW, not all Southern accents are as thick as those of others. I'm a Georgia peach, but not a Southern belle, and appreciate the opportunity to to dispel stereotypes. :-)
Again, thank you for the dvd and do keep making strong films such as this. Difficult subject matter needs a firm voice.

Apparently, they must have been right there in kickstarter at the time, as the writer immediately replied!
Sen3Productions wrote on Mar 12, 2012
Faustina,
Thank you so much for the kind words, I actually laughed when we watched the behind the scenes footage and said. "Oh no, I believe one of our sponsors is a Georgia peach and I hope she doesn't take that the wrong way."
I'm very sensitive to accents so I can tell a peach from a belle, but most New Yorkers just hear twang and assume its all the same. That was why I wanted to be sure not to just blurt out a "southern accent" and made sure to study the appalachian accent in particular. I stressed soooo much to Marcin that southern dialects vary and it needs to be distinct, so I was happy that he was able to come through (and hopefully I did as well) :)
You are the second person to say this story hit home, so that really touches me as a writer. It's good to know the story can speak to even ONE person let alone two, so thank you again.
All the best to you and to your brother.
Always,
Sashia

Nice, but also sad, to know others can relate to the story.

help send the scots to scotland

What a cool idea for a school fundraiser: use of kickstarter to generate monies from outside sources! This is the first such project I've seen, and I'm very much in favor of supporting it.
Why?
Well, you know the tv show, "Glee"? Well, this school seems very much like that one. Highland Park High School, in Topeka, Kansas, is a public school. That means it doesn't have much in the way of funds for art and music and theatre and all of those creative things that make life go sizzle poom PAH!
Even so, Scott Kickhaefer has brought his group of talented thespians a long, long way, and I don't think they should be in Kansas anymore. Not when an Emerald City in Scotland beckons them to come forward to please the masses at ... the Edinburgh Fringe Festival!!!! What an honor to be one of the fifty-one high schools, in the entire United States, chosen for this privilege!!!
But I already mentioned that this troupe is in a public high school, right? So, not only does the school not have the funds to send them on this trip of a lifetime, their folks most likely don't have that kind of money, either. I recall when my (public high school) Spanish IV class was qualified to compete against other schools (mostly private) in Atlanta. We're only talking about an overnight trip, less than three hundred miles from home, but finding the money for it was a real challenge. Fortunately, we were able to hold enough bake sales and car washes to make it happen. (We even won 3rd place in the competition!!!)
A trip across the Atlantic Ocean, though, is going to take at least $15,000 - and that is the goal set on kickstarter. I'm providing them with $53, one buck for each year I've been enjoying theatre here on Earth.
What do I get? Well, the joy of helping some talented students take a giant step forward in a positive direction - and a video of their performance. You know, since I won't be able to cheer them on in person.
Go, Scots!!!!

time travel and literacy

J. Lee Graham does not lack for motivation.
When his first kickstarter venture failed to raise the needed capital to launch his book about time travel, In The Nick Of Time, into the hands of eager children, did he give up? Absolutely not!
Now, here he is, back in the ring to take another swing (as AC/DC would say). Focusing on getting books into the hands of readers, not reviewers, his project is revamped and has a lower funding goal. (Hey, critics will cost you, in case you didn't know. You didn't think Roger Ebert wrote for free, did you?)
I'm looking forward to holding an autographed copy in my hands.
And having another copy sent to the public library here.
Share the wealth, you know.
As he would say: mahalo!

allegheny creek

When you go to the kickstarter page, the tagline tells you right away that this is a serious piece. A man, newly released from prison, is trying to start over with his estranged family.
Why he went to prison is not the focus.
He performed a crime, did his time, and is trying to be a better man.
This story is from the perspective of the mother of his son. Written by, and starring, Sashia Dumont, and directed by Paul Robinson, Sen3Productions is clearly a family affair. I expect the finished film to have a story with a lot of heart, a lot of hope, and a large dose of reality.
I seem to be finding these prison projects quite a bit lately... or maybe they are finding me. This makes the third one I've backed in as many weeks. (You can see here and here.)
I look forward to seeing the film, though I'll have to wait for the postman to deliver.
I'm sure these folks in New York will.
It was a close call on the funding, but my last-minute $50 has done its job.