Traveling Shoes

As my daughter has pointed out to me, in the original Oz stories, Dorothy was transported home by silver shoes, not ruby ones.

On Friday, I'll once again sally forth, this time traveling by train to Washington, DC for the ALA 2010 Annual Conference.

I'm looking forward to renewing old friendships and establishing new ones. There will be time for learning on many levels, opportunities to explore, photos just begging to be taken.

The last time I was in our nation's capital, I was part of a massive act of social protest. With libraries and librarians under siege, there is a strong element of activism present now also.

My distrust of large organizations runs deep, but I have joined ALA and will try to keep an open mind about the positive benefits of membership in a professional group.

And if it all becomes too much, I can click my silver sneakers and head for home.






“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.” – Miriam Beard


“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang




"Dorothy Gale with silver shoes" from Wikimedia Commons
"Silver Sneakers" by dmcordell

Happy Father's Day!

In celebration of art, life...and Father's Day...my daughter has constructed a blog to showcase her dad's work.

Although I'll continue to archive Tim's paintings and drawings in a Flickr set, you can now connect with him and his gallery directly.

Please stop by and leave a comment!



"There's no retirement for an artist, it's your way of living so there's no end to it." -Henry Moore

Embrace Your Tribe

"I Geek the Geek Tribe!" ribbon by The Daring Librarian

As I've mentioned before, Gwyneth Jones, Joyce Valenza, and I have been busy working on items that will identify tech-loving teacher/librarians as members of the Geek Tribe.

Gwyneth has done her usual amazing job blogging about our efforts. Since she and Joyce will be attending ISTE 2010 in Denver this year, I'll be the Tribe rep at ALA DC 2010. If you haven't ordered a badge or stickers from Zazzle, you can download and print a free membership card using the templates found in the Geek Tribe Logos & Stuff Flickr gallery.

I will be carrying a limited number of Geek Tribe cards and ribbons to hand out to sympathetic souls who proclaim, "I Geek the Geek Tribe."

Any profits from the sale of Geek Tribe items benefit the Teacher Librarian Ning. As Gwyneth so tactfully explains,

If you use our graphics on your website, please do us the courtesy of linking back to the Teacher Librarian Ning , TL Virtual Cafe, or this [Gwyneth's] blog. Most all of my graphics are Creative Commons Non-Commercial Share-Alike - BUT if i find you using them to sell T-Shirts, coffee mugs or some other SWAG that doesn't benefit our group i will "hunt you down and skin and wear you like last year's Versace!" - Dina Manzo RHONJ

Those who want to get feeds from both ISTE and ALA should bookmark Geek Tribe member Buffy Hamilton's Netvibes page.



"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." -Jane Howard

TL Cafe: Skype an Author Network

"Sara Zarr Virtual Author Visit Via Skype, The Unquiet Library, October 2009" by theunquietlibrary

On Monday, June 7, at 8 pm EST, the TL Virtual Cafe hosts the latest in a series of free webinars.

Guest presenters Ramona N. Kerby and Sarah Chauncey will discuss their groundbreaking project and site, Skype an Author Network. According to Kerby and Chauncey, "The mission of the Skype an Author Network is to provide K-12 teachers and librarians with a way to connect authors, books, and young readers through virtual visits."

Anyone who has ever worked in a library can testify to the excitement generated by author visits. Unfortunately, such events can be cost prohibitive to small or underfunded programs.

Virtual author visits offer the same type of interaction and student engagement without the expense.

Join the discussion, and learn more about how to Skype an Author.

Skype an Author
June 7th 8pm EST
Guests: Dr. Mona Kerby & Sarah Chauncey
Host: Gwyneth Jones

at the TL Virtual Cafe

365 Project: May

"Life just seems so full of connections. Most of the time we don't even pay attention to the depth of life. We see only flat surfaces." -Colin Neenan


This month, I shared pictures of

nature and objects

May Day

Chess Pieces

joy and remembrance

Field of Dreams

Keeping Company

past and future

The British Royal Family, 1944

Learning

"Every closed eye is not sleeping, and every open eye is not seeing." -Bill Cosby




You can see a slideshow of the 31 May photos here or view all of my 2010 photos to date here.

The three groups to which I contribute are 2010/365, EdTech 365/2010, and Project 365.