Books I Want: Long May You Run and The Great Night


Lately I've really been wanting to start running again, in no small part because a friend is training for a half-marathon. It's really made me start itching to take out the shoes and do a few laps on the track.

Except I hate running on a track. Another reason I'm looking forward to being in the Midwest: I can run in the neighborhood again without fearing an excessive number of honks/weird cat-calling.

Anyway. The above book has helped stoke my desire to hit the pavement again. It's got all kinds of great motivational stuff, races to run, and the 25 best cities for runners (Madison is on that list, though what makes a good running city, I'm not so sure). It lists music to run to, the names of the weirdest races, and a page to make your own running alphabet, filling in each letter with something meaningful to you.

It's the kind of thing that, if I was having trouble getting motivated for a run, I could open it up and almost instantly feel inspired. Only problem is, it's $24. Oh, and we're moving, so we don't need any more books right now. (Except I keep getting them anyway...)


This one is a retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Three heartbroken people all wander into Buena Vista Park in San Francisco, home to Titania and Oberon (which actually makes a lot of sense to me). But their marriage has broken up after their adopted son died, and Titania has unleashed something evil.

I've always been a fan of that play, so something exploring that world really appeals to me. But again, this is a hardcover, and fairly expensive and heavy. So it will have to wait.

The Madison Public Library is going to be my new favorite place.

Comments

  1. SandyMay 25, 2011 at 9:23 AM

    We'll have to find a way to get together and possibly go running when you're back in WI and settled in.

    The Madison Public Library is quite nice. :) And it's part of one of the largest and (IMHO) best-run library systems in the country, so you pretty much have access to everything. I do miss it...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sally Anns and a Can of Spam

Image
Sally Anns are one of my favorite cookies. By their taste alone, they evoke a sense of home and comfort, reminding me of the kitchen at my grandparents' place and the simple happiness of mid-afternoon sweets. They're the only food that evokes the thought, This would be better with a cup of coffee. Making them was a good Easter activity, especially as I was stuck away from the family due to unpacking (the books are now free!) and yard work shenanigans (such as finding a dead mouse in the yard, which was lovely). With help from my mom, I found the recipe in the family cookbook (my great-great-grandparents are on the cover, and other awesome old pictures are scattered throughout). I decided that the transgression of buying a can of Spam (just once) was worth it for the sake of the cookies. Poke holes in the bottom of the can to allow for air flow. I didn't have enough butter for a full batch, but half of one made 18 Cookies of Unusual Size. I made the mistake of
Read more

The Beatles' Help! Scarf

Image
Remember when I posted about making Beatles-themed crafts after seeing Cirque du Soleil's performance of Love? I've finished the first one. Here's a refresher of the original Help! scarf. Source And here's my version: a massive thing that I gave my sister for her birthday. In these shots, it's wrapped around her neck twice. I didn't measure the beast before I sent it to its new home, but it's probably about 8 feet long. Made with Caron yarn on size 8 needles, this tube scarf was 40 stitches in the round. Each block of color is 20 rows. The only tricky parts are getting a smooth transition between colors and what to do with the yarn ends inside the tube, but they are easy problems to solve. When you transitioning, knit a normal row with the new color, then pull tight the last stitch of the previous color. That last stitch shouldn't disappear entirely, but it will be close, and your problem will be solved. Then, because this scarf
Read more

Data in Social Science

The science aspect of social science work is central to improving social systems. Data inform whether we are moving in the right direction or need to adjust our course. However, data and science must not be the center of our work; we must keep focus on children, families, and individuals, whose experiences are nuanced and filtered through systems that hold innate bias, which rests within the data . By maintaining awareness of these biases and their potential, we can keep people at the center of our work and focus on the true causes of injustice and pain that many families deal with. Lack of awareness can be a slippery slope to believing that individuals or families are themselves at fault for their situations, be it lack of housing, interpersonal violence, or other abuse. With data that are conscious of systemic issues and biases, we can examine the true issues at hand, such as racism , financial instability, and ableist policies.  What good are any manner of properly applied scientifi
Read more