7 Quick Takes: Paragraphs

7 Quick Takes Post-It Notes — All the paragraphs a person could need. Click to see.

If you clicked on this page from Jen F.’s blogfest because you saw the Kolbe Reviews picture, click here to see the whole series. It was the most interesting picture I had, and plus I’m so excited about my new page where you can find them all in one place.

You regular readers who are completely, utterly sick of hearing about Kolbe by now, here are 7 Takes with never a mention of the K-word:

When I got to page 24 of Holiness for Everyone, I e-mailed Eric Sammons. “If this hasn’t gone to print yet . . . there’ s a typo.” I figured he or some other person had already caught it, but if it were my book, I’d appreciate someone telling me, just to be sure. What I saw was this:

1) A long quote, indented.

The author’s words, introducing next long, indented quote.

2) The second quote.

So that in-between prose shouldn’t be indented, since it isn’t part of the quotes. Right?

Um, no. But he very graciously answered me, “Oh yes, we had the same question, but OSV assures us it is correct.” I did not hear a single snicker in that e-mail. I feel sure the man’s been practicing his holiness.

And I replied, using my super-special idiot powers, “Okay. That’s a really strange convention.” Ha. Those weird publishers. What are they thinking??

But at 5 in the morning, I woke up to my crazy-busy brain back to work in crazy-busy mode, and suddenly I knew the answer. Everything made sense. I was no longer mystified.

Remember long, long ago, when you used the “Tab” key to start a new paragraph? And then you didn’t have to put a blank line between every paragraph?

They were thinking that.

A world utterly, utterly removed from the reality of blogging software. Never even occurred to me to check and confirm that I was reading a book with indented paragraphs.

Consider that your little pre-review for today. I hope it isn’t too much of a spoiler.

I just looked real quick, and the first five books I pulled off my shelf all had them too. Apparently it’s the big thing in Catholic Publishing.

Okay, so no it isn’t really a surprise, because at 5:05 I found myself marveling at the genius of it all. And longing, deeply longing, to know how much money they saved by not having to print all those blank lines. What a way to save paper!

Lately I’ve taken to spelling “paragraph” with only one p, and typing “gh” instead of “ph” at the end. And then I have to fix it. I do not like this new typo. But I’m very grateful for the red squiggly line that catches it every time.

I bet Allie Hathaway knows how to spell “paragraph”. Thanks for praying for her today.

That upstart Larry D. is picking a fight with Patheos again, and for my part I just don’t care, other than to wonder who are these people who don’t like Mark Shea* and what is wrong with them?

But you know what I do care about? It relates to Patheos because this happens to people when they move to Patheos, but Mark Shea and Elizabeth Scalia are both proof that reform is possible. Now I can’t just e-mail every famous Catholic blogger to complain, because look I already have this reputation over the Indenting Fiasco, so I’m just going to say it here:

Fix your settings so your whole post gets sent to the feed reader.

Thank you Darwin, Bearing, Julie D., and every other sensible blogger whom I read faithfully, due in part to this one kind act.

Also: Make that little “subscribe to comments” check box show up in the combox.

***

Thank you. Have a great weekend.

*Mark Shea writes books with indented paragraphs. Two P’s.

3.5 Time Outs: On Tour

Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy, who pulled the ol’ you-vacationed-where?? trick on me. Works every time. I’m easy to surprise.

3.5 Time Outs Tuesday — Click and be amazed.

We unplugged for Triduum, and wow: Peaceful. But look, the power of scheduling made it look like I was on the internet: In Defense of Pretty Good Schools, at CatholicMom.com. Technically it’s a homeschooling column (because that’s how I tricked Lisa H. into letting me write for her — I said, “Gosh, do you need any homeschooling columnists?”), but actually it’s for everyone.

Remember that whole girl problem I was having before? That Christian LeBlanc answered so easily, like he always does? I stole his answer, of course. He’ll probably cringe when he sees what I went and did with it. My post on the word “Women” goes up at Sarah R.’s blog on Thursday morning. She says she likes it. But if you want something really smart, with Doctors of the Church and all that, you’d better just read Jeff Miller’s post about “Among”. Or for a reflection about intimacy and Old English, you’d want Julie Davis on “Thou”.

But Sarah’s going to be nice to me at least until Friday, because her Catholic Family Fun book tour visits right here at this blog, when I’ll be reviewing her book in seven quick takes, for the other evil overlord who we won’t mention just now. What you need to know today: It’s good enough I actually bought a copy with my own money to give as a gift to somebody. Admittedly I buy a lot of books. But when I acquire a second copy, that’s your hint.

Look, more things for smart people: Barbara Nicolosi let us post the transcript of her workshop on “Towards a Literature that is Catholic” at CWG. I think maybe she doesn’t read the Hardy Boys much, because she says things like:

My theory is that the secular world is not anti-Catholic as much as it is anti-bad art.

Me, on the other hand, I’m all about bad art*. Then again, I’m not real secular.

3.5

In more book tour excitement, this coming Monday I’m reviewing Karina Fabian’s Live and Let Fly, and let me tell you, it is absolutely . . .

***

Well, that’s all for today. It’s Link Day once again, which is not an obligation, just an opportunity. Because no one likes having their perfectly good link stuck in my inbox with a little star next to it, when it could be down in the combox for everyone to enjoy. One link per comment so you don’t get accidentally caught in the spam dungeon, where even detective dragons dare not prowl.

And hey, Happy Easter!

*This is not a strictly factual statement. I’m good with hokey genre fiction as long as the story is fun and entertaining, though I reserve the right to joke about it over a cup of coffee with the boy afterwards. But even I have my limits.

Vocation and Holiness

This morning as I stumbled down the hall, coffee in hand, the fourth grader handed me A Bridge to Terabithia. “Mom,” she warned me, “don’t let anybody read this for school. It is terrible. It has very foul language.”

“Oh?” I had read it way back in elementary school, but hadn’t looked at it since. I couldn’t really remember what was in the book.

“Yes. They use the d-word. And the parents say things like ‘crap’ and ‘crud’ and ‘you stupid’. And that’s just in one chapter.”

Ah. Duly warned. I thanked her for the head’s up.

1. Simcha Fisher writes:

We’re so used to seeing our own children, so used to the idea that they’re under our care, that we sometimes forget that the angels rejoice when a young person goes out into the world armed with truth and love, instead of going forth with their hearts cramped and crabbed by an acceptance of abortion. This is where the battle is fought: in individual hearts. Each abortion is a tragedy because it ends an individual life—but each heart that is taught how to love is a true and eternal victory.

Yes, raising our children lovingly is commonplace, a duty, nothing new. So what? It’s still a big deal. It’s still the way to save souls. This is the great thing about being part of the Culture of Life: everything counts. You don’t have to save your receipts! Your good works have been noted, and they will not go to waste.

2. Bearing reminds me, I’m not the only mom who got paid to go to graduate school, in order to prepare for a rewarding career in the ultra-non-profit sector. I don’t typically feel guilty about this. Back when I was applying for fellowships, I assumed I’d ultimately end up in some kind of field that was a natural extension of my start in accounting — maybe moved out of staff and into operations, or teaching accounting 101 at the community college, or who knows what — who can really predict how a career will turn? I also knew that I wanted to be a mom, and that I was intentionally picking a field that lent itself to momness. Ditching it all in order to stay home and raise kids? If only I could be so lucky.

At the fellowship interviews, I was asked, “What do you see yourself doing in five years? Ten years?”

I answered honestly. “Solving problems.”

Which is what I do.

3. This week at the Catholic Writers Guild blog I’ve been shuffling around the schedule to get all the mundane writer-talk posts pushed off until after Easter. I didn’t want Holy Week to be chit-chat as usually. But Sarah Reinhard’s post for today, even though it’s sort of a blogging post, it’s really a Holy Week post: Remember Your Priorities.

–> Hey and real quick please pray for Sarah’s very urgent prayer request for a family member with a scary, likely life-threatening diagnosis on the way. Thanks.

4. You know what? I just love this photo so much. I was thrilled with Julie D. picked it out for her 1,000 Words post. Because I just like to look at it.

5. Holiness versus Weirdness. It’s a constant battle. I spend a lot of time just trying to figure out how to live life. I feel stupid about this, because, well, not knowing how to live your life has got to be one of the marks of stupidity, right? But at the same time, I live in a culture that doesn’t know how to live life, so I remind myself it’s not exactly shocking that my adulthood be devoted to figuring out what I ought to be doing instead.

And I’m not alone. Which makes reading Catholic Lifestyle Lit of a decade ago so amusing, because the holiness-fads of years gone by shout out like a pair of parachute pants. Which is why my children in ten years will be laughing about this over Thanksgiving dinner:

When I wrote about fasting from artificial light in the Register a while back, I got a ton of interesting responses. One of my favorites was from a dad who told me about this family tradition that they’ve been doing for 30 years:

We turn off the light when we leave for Holy Thursday Mass and don’t turn them on again until we return from the Saturday Easter Vigil at around midnight on Saturday.

We got the idea when our parish turned off the lights and had us exit in silence on Holy Thursday. And we entered at the Easter Vigil in darkness which continued until the Gloria. And, of course, Good Friday services were held during the daytime so lighting was not a main focus. So we got the idea to practically “live” this period when Jesus the “light of the world” was taken away from us.

I think we might try this this year. Anyone else going to give it a shot?

My kids will the story of how I read this idea at some Catholic lady’s blog, and when I told Jon, not only did he like the idea, he proposed we just flip all the breakers in the house except the one for the kitchen.

So yeah. Weird. I know we are. I know it kids.

6. But listen, weird isn’t all bad. My garden is awesome. If by “awesome” we mean: I like it. And I was sitting in it this spring, and realized that Margaret Realy’s book about Prayer Gardens had come true. I read it, followed the instructions, and wow, it worked. Highly recommended if you want a little quiet garden-y oasis, and need some ideas about how to make it work.

And with that I’ll cut out the rest of the chit-chat and go be all vocational. Have a great week, and I’ll see you back here come Easter or so.

7 Quick Takes: Troublemakers

It’s the end of the Catholic Writer’s Conference Online, and I had a reader here take me to task for not publicizing it enough. (“Conference? What conference?”). So I’m going to fix that.

The thing is this: A year ago, Mike Hays and I were making trouble at Sarah Reinhard’s otherwise very civilized blogging workshop. We were saying things like, “And the CWG ought to have a blog! And Mike will pray once a week! And Jen is willing to help! Because she always volunteers for things, even though she has no time, but this time she really thinks she should!”

And someone took us up on it. Ann Lewis presented me with a newborn blog, and said, “Here you go, find writers.” Mike’s led prayers over at CWG every week since. He rocks.

So anyway, what you need to know is that if you’re a Catholic writer, you really ought to check out the Catholic Writers Guild. And if you’re a Christian writer of any flavor, join us all through April for 30K for Christ. There’s a 30K for Christ forum for CWG members, and non-members are encouraged to check-in at the blog with progress reports, or join in via Twitter following top-secret instructions Sarah Reinhard’s going to decode and make public by Sunday.

Meanwhile, you should steal this stylish 30K Logo so that everyone knows you aren’t just writing stuff, you’re on a mission:

Allie Hathaway’s a Catholic writer. Pray for her. Thanks.

Of the 7,000 cool things I learned at the online conference, my favorite is this:

Sr. Marie Paul Curley is Jim Curley’s sister. That’s why she looks so happy in her profile pics on her blog. If you weren’t already reading her blog, now’s the time to start.

And in news culled from that blog: Act One is accepting applications for the coming year? Yes? Still open? I don’t see a deadline.

But I do see this: A casting call for ex-Christians, disaffected Christians, and people who just don’t do organized religion:

SUBMISSION DEADLINE IS APRIL 4, 2012. Project is unpaid, but participants will receive copy, credit, and reimbursement for production-related costs.

ABOUT YOU LOST ME

With You Lost Me, Barna Group researcher David Kinnaman shows why younger Christians are leaving the church and rethinking their faith. Through research and statistics, Kinnaman shows how pastors, church leaders and parents have failed to equip young people and how this has serious consequences. Those disconnected from the church are not statistics, says Kinnaman — they are people with real stories. You Lost Me, in part, is a challenge to the church to slow down and listen to those who consider themselves outsiders.

FYI for those who rightly worry about these things, Act One has made it’s mark as an outspoken criticism of the sugary 3rd-rate rah-rah-rah team brand of inane Christian programming. So this looks promising.

7.

~~And now I’m going to Aldi~~. Wait! No I’m not! The kids made a list . . . and we all forgot! The truck’s in the shop! Ack. Leaky hose. It’ll be home soon I hope. Good thing our idea of “out of groceries” involves still owning large amounts of food.

And tomorrow: Taxes. I’d better get a head start since I’ll have to do grocery run tomorrow. Do you know what my #1 writing rule is? If you can’t write as clearly as the IRS, you should be fired.

7.5

Whoa! What’s with the website redesign at IRS??? Ack. It’s colorful. Bright. Cheesy photos of satisfied customers. NOOOOOO! I want my ~~boring~~ soothing, orderly accountant-blue back. Nooooooo!

Have a great weekend.

Kolbe Reviews: Voyages in English (Grammar)

Voyages in English is a vintage Catholic-school grammar book series. My mother-in-law used it growing up, and I love this because whenever my kids complain it’s so hard, Grandma is there to remind them she did just fine with it. And went on to have a story published in Redbook Magazine, no less.

Originally published in the late ’50’s and early ’60’s, it is available as a reprint from Lepanto Press. There is an modern version of Voyages in English still being published by Loyola Press, and I am told that Lepanto’s vintage reprint will soon be re-named Lepanto English to avoid confusion.

What I love about the old Voyages:

I like using vintage and historic textbooks, because they double as primary sources for history.
The grammar is rigorous. Studied well, students will learn to write clearly and edit effectively.

What other people hate about the old Voyages:

It’s so old-fashioned.
Not everybody wants to grow up to be an editor.

Realistically, some of the material in the sixth grade book was new to me, and is understandably overwhelming to parents who aren’t word-geeks. (Fourth grade is no problem.) The teacher’s manual has explanations and answers, but could make your eyes swim if you don’t already know roughly what the book is talking about. Also, I giggle every time I see the word “copulative”.

The Kolbe Course Plans

The course plans assign the exercises, and every now and again tell you to diagram some sentences, or write a letter, or something like that. There are quarterly exams and answer keys in the course plans. If you aren’t enrolled with Kolbe I’d skip the plans and just type up your own list of dates and assignment numbers at the beginning of the school year.

I would encourage you, if you do follow the Kolbe plans, to blackline assignments that cover topics your child has clearly mastered, and generally avoid anything that smacks of busy work. The plans, like the text, cover every possible grammar need, allowing you to be the Benevolent Dictator, mercifully skipping over long exercises training students out of bad habits they had no idea existed until seeing them in the book.

What if you can’t stand VOE?

You’re not alone. A popular alternative used by Kolbe and Mother of Divine Grace families is Easy Grammar.

I picked up an older edition at a used book sale, and I like having it on hand as a resource for extra practice pages. The edition I have (1994) has reproducible worksheets and then the filled-in worksheet on the facing page. It seems to cover all the topics normal people cover in English grammar.

Another option that comes highly recommended is the free online K.I.S.S. Grammar Books by Dr. Ed Vavra. Worth a look.

Do you even need a formal grammar program?

Sooner or later, sure. But if standard English is the language spoken in your home, I’m not persuaded students need to do a rigorous study of grammar every single year. And note that if you are studying a foreign language of any kind, then the kids are getting quite a lot of grammar education that way.

Having largely unschooled grammar until 4th grade, I had no difficulty transitioning both kids to Voyages this year. I looked through the Kolbe Placement Exams early last summer, and used a selection of worksheets from the Super Teacher Worksheets to give the kids an introduction to the concepts they’d be seeing in the fall.

So although I happen to like the Kolbe selection on this one, and I find that using it this year was well-timed for us, I wouldn’t make your child’s love of Voyages in English the make-or-break on your choice of programs. I would be very comfortable with giving any student a year off of hardcore grammar study here or there, if that seemed like a better way to manage time and energy and avoid frustration.

3.5 Time Outs: Try Not to Think About It

Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy, who lives with a teenage driver.

When my big kids were little, they played Mass in the bathroom. The necessary accessories were:

Holy Water
Bible
Crackers for Communion

They said the Lord’s Prayer, and read from the Bible, and it was all very heartwarming.

Now my current 5-year-old has taken to setting up a church for the hippos and bunnies. The required items are:

Drum Set
Offering Envelopes
Collection Basket
Bulletins

She makes sure there’s a nursery in her pillow-fort church building.

She also likes to play pirates. I tried to serve her hardtack and sauerkraut for lunch today, but she wasn’t convinced it was real pirate food. She voted for fish sticks.

A friend is keeping the kids for us this weekend so we can get away for a couple vacation together. We priced hotels in one town (expensive, yikes), looked at the time required to go down to our favorite patron’s free beach house (too long a drive), decided camping was too much bother to count as R&R, and now are trying to decide . . . which room of the house? We keep telling the kids we’re gonna sleep in their bunkbeds while they’re gone. They think we are joking.

3.5

. . . James Herriot. Seriously. Me. I’d never guessed.

***

It’s Link Day. Guys you get your man card punched double if you leave boy links on a girl blog. Surely you aren’t going to be out-linked by a girl, are you? One link per comment so you don’t get accidentally stuck in the automated spam dungeon. Jane-Austen themes purely optional.

Oh and look, I have a link. I stuck up a post at Amazing Catechists yesterday, on how to teach about the sacrament of marriage when your students’ families are not 100% on board. I meant to wait a bit before posting it, but then I needed to send it to somebody, so I went ahead and put it up. One thing that might surprise you — this is a topic where the United State Catholic Catechism for Adults really comes into its own. It’s as if the bishops have some practice with these situations.

3.5 Time Outs: Reading, Writing, Housekeeping

Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy, who didn’t call my parents when I skipped class last week.

Dorian Speed’s taken up the discussion of Catholic Arts and Letters over at her place. I’m glad she did, because I was totally stewing over that OSV article. Rather than be a combox hog, I put my comments into a post at CWG.

(Hint: Anyone who says “there’s too much catechesis out there” is just itching for a fight.)

We’ve got a big fat Lenten FAIL going on here at the castle. Vomitorium duty sure didn’t help, but let’s be honest, it was already falling apart before ever I was thrust down the black hole. But if there’s one thing I’m good for, it’s perpetual hopefulness. Is there any chance Good Housekeeping is one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit? I think a need a mega-novena. Or probably just to get back on the wagon.

Ah, but look, I do have a special intention for which the grace of Holy Spirit is needed. If you would please, just go ahead and pray. You’ll know your prayers were answered if you never, ever, have any idea what it was you prayed for. That would be so great. I would love it.

3.5

When I’m sick, I read. It’s my vice. So last week I pulled down one yet-untouched book in the rainy-day queue, read half a chapter, was disgusted by the unexpectedly crass language, and threw it away. Then I picked up selection-in-waiting #2, and wow! Who knew I’d love . . .

***

Okay that’s all for today. I’m trying to catch back up on my Kolbe Reviews this week, get the other half the Doctors of the Church review re-written since the internet ate it on Thursday afternoon as part of my need for Jen-mortification, and I’m hoping to have something new up at Amazing Catechists, I know not when, but soon. Ish.

Meanwhile, It’s Link Day. Other people than Sandra are allowed to post links, though she’ll always be the leader, since she specializes in finding cool stuff. One link per comment so you don’t get stuck in the spam dungeon.

Where I write.

Since Jen Fulwiler says she really wants to know.

UPDATE: Click on this link to see her space, and find out about adding your own submission. I’m fascinated by how similar our spaces are, right down to mandatory accessories — dining-room chandelier, children’s art . . . but I don’t have a pretty basket for Other People’s Things. I just chuck your stuff in the hall. I should get more civilized.

This is the study, which is where I like to write. Because it has the giant slow-but-accessorized computer we all fight over, except not the boy anymore because this Christmas the grandparents tricked out his long-saved-for-laptop with everything a boy could need.

But other people demand use of the big machine. Which means I grab my little computer and wander someplace like this:

Front Patio — No, it is not this green right now.

or like this:

Airstream — No, it is not this orange right now.

Or wherever I can hide and the people don’t find me.

FYI for editing, my favorite thing is to print out a hard copy, grab a magic marker, and go to McDonald’s.

But usually I just work at home.

***

Goofy tip for the under-networked: If I write something on my laptop, eventually I have to send it over to the big computer for printing out, adding a photo, etc etc. Or maybe I was working on the big computer, and someone else needed it, so I’ve got to send it the other way. So I just e-mail it to myself.

Well here’s the funny thing I learned on Monday. . . in Yahoo, even before the e-mail arrives in the inbox, you can just walk over to the other computer and open the ‘sent items’ file.

I know all you technical people are laughing now. You’re welcome.

3.5 Time Outs: Everybody Else

Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy, who rocked my world this morning when I saw his post on Picaken. I’m not certain if it’s more like a penance or a deadly sin, but, wow. Just wow.

Sarah R’s secret plot is a secret no longer. She’s started a word-by-word series on the Hail Mary. You can read about “Hail” here, and “Mary” here. My word, like I said the other week, is “women”, so I have a little bit of time. Sarah assures me that my getting selected for that word was purely ~~dumb luck~~ the grace of God. Or just the way the list of bloggers happened to line up with the list of words.

If you didn’t already sign up for the online Catholic Writer’s Conference, ~~today~~ tomorrow is your very last chance until next year. [Updated because yes, I’ve been writing the wrong date all day long. Registration goes until Feb 29th, and is closed come March 1st.]

Don’t cry when you read my post coming soon to CWG about pitch sessions, and say to me, “But I didn’t know!” Because you know what? I told you. Today. This blog is not exactly a no-whining-zone, but I do limit the topics.

The Fulwil-inator must be getting nervous, Larry, because she’s making a move for Wednesdays. The Curt Jester has already aired his contribution. My main writing location was shown here way back during the homeschool photofest, but maybe if I am ~~goofing off~~ feeling diligent, I’ll get an official entry for tomorrow. Or not. Just how industrious a minion am I?

3.5

. . . wasps.

***

That’s my 3.5. Last week’s open-link session did just what I’d hoped, and if you were smart you clicked on my friend Sandra’s links, because she’s the one who sends me 90% of the cool things that land in my inbox.

If you read here and have a link to your own work or someone else’s, consider this your invitation to just post it in the combox, rather than suffering that long horrid process where you e-mail me and then pray I don’t get sidetracked before I remember I wanted to tell the whole world about that cool thing you shared, but I forgot, and now you wonder if I hate you or hate your link, when actually, I just forgot.

[So far, no people that I hate have ever e-mailed me, so I promise you’re safe. I’m having a hard time thinking of anyone I do hate, and that’s a sign of something good, I think, but let’s not get too precise about whether that’s referring to my spiritual condition or just my cave-dwelling lifestyle. Maybe it’s that you who e-mail me are just that awesome.]

–> Post as many links as you like, but only one per comment, because the evil anti-spam automaton will gobble any post that has more than one link, and we don’t want that.

If you do get stuck in the spam dungeon, you have my permission to e-mail me and tell me what happened, and I’ll wade into the mire and fish out your comment and hit the approve button. I’m going to quick drain the moat before I publish this so it won’t be quite so stinky down there.

3.5 Time Outs: Mardi Gras

Thanks once again to our host Larry D. at Acts of the Apostasy, who makes Tuesday everything it should be and then some.

Catholic Blog Day. What I had planned to do today (actually, yesterday, but let’s not quibble) was empty out my inbox of the 10,000 fabulous links kind people have sent my way lately. You will have to wait. Only the very most last-minute one makes it today: The first Catholic Blog Day is tomorrow, Ash Wednesday. The topic is penance. Remember that you can use your scheduling super powers to post ahead of time, if you are planning to fast from blogging for some portion of the next 40ish days.

Hey, listen, how about we just make Tuesday a post-your-link-in-Jen’s-combox day? Would that be so bad? No. You would love it. One link per comment so you don’t fall through the automated trap door into the Spam Dungeon, where I never ever look anymore, because, ick, lots of spiders.

The Festival of Cleaning is not my favorite thing. Let’s just say that Lent is going to hit very, very hard around the castle. Should I do like I did a different year and also give up yelling at the kids? I think yes. I mean, every time I go to confession I resolve to give it up, so I guess Lent would be that time, right?

[Re-cap for the un-initiated: This year our family is going to Clean Up After Ourselves for Lent. Reminder for the familiar-with-fitzes: Try not to laugh so loud. You’re shaking the internet.]

This book looks really cool. Now I want to read it.

Also: Registration deadline for the [free!] Online Catholic Writers Conference is Feb. 29th. That’s both for registering as a participant and/or as a presenter. If you are newly-registering, it takes a couple days for the final approval to go through, so don’t panic at the wait. You should sign up now, because you probably will not hate the whole entire thing, but the only way to be sure is to register and then go look when the time comes and see. FYI it is for everyone of all skill and experience levels.

Oh and hey, in fixing 50% of the typos in take #3.5, I was reminded that Tollefsen fans should note the new article up at Public Discourse, “Mandates and Bad Law“.

3.5

The spiders reminds me of a true story, which if I’ve told you before you are going to hush and not spoil it for the people who want to read the second half next week:

When we first built the green castle, that summer Ev would not play in her little kitchen in the basement. She kept telling us, “I’m afraid of the bad spiders,” and she wouldn’t go into it. Eventually we got around to investigating. And then we were glad she’d held her ground on refusing to associate with the bad spiders, because it turned out they were . . .

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