are you reading?

via NYT

Read this very cool article by Michael Winerip in his Generation B column this w/e about the power of reading and being read to: and an amazing Father-Daughter bond via books.

oh dear. sound dry? it isn't. the dad is a school librarian (for 38 years) and read to his daughter since she was tiny right up to (wait for it) college. OK so reading that back now sounds creepy but it isn't. really. it's very cool. but don't take my word for it, read it here.

Here's something the dad says:

"If you love to read, you'll probably go to college, maybe for free. You'll get a better job, get a higher income, live longer."

WOW. they are powerful these books!

Posted via email from s@lly l-j

what's in your pocket? purse? handbag?

via LENS blog NYT

via Francois Roberts' "Contents"--a collection of photographs documenting the contents of 120 people's backpacks, pants, pockets, purses, handbags...

Of course he forgot to ask The Handbag Friends what ought to be in a handbag... (clue it's not keys and lipstick) and I don't see Clasp anywhere. But now is as good a time as any to sing The Handbag Song--won't you join me? Sing along, ready, steady, ... sing!

what's in YOUR handbag?

See the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from s@lly l-j

Vid #21: David Suchet narrates... He's Here!

visit the The Jesus Storybook Bible site to learn more
buy the book: here
download audio on  or amazon

what is a poem?

An interviewer asked the poet, Annie Finch, how she would explain to a seven-year-old what a poem was, and she said:

"A poem is words that fit together in a special way so it's easy to remember and it sounds like magic."

such the perfect description of a poem.
plus, it kind of is one, too.

Annie Finch, born 1956 in New Rochelle, New York. Her newest book of poetry is Calendars (2003).

video: JSB #20 The Party

(no need to add a code, just hit ENTER and it'll play)

visit the The Jesus Storybook Bible site to learn more
buy the book: here
download audio on  or amazon

watch 6 hours of book design in 2 mins

Posted via email from s@lly l-j

Blessed Assurance

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Happy Birthday Phoebe Knapp. Pardon. What? Who?

Phoebe Knapp. She wrote the tune to "Blessed Assurance" (among more than 500 other hymns). She was born in New York 1839. 

And did you know… one day in 1873, Knapp was having a pipe organ set up in her house when a fellow John Street Methodist Episcopal Church parishioner, a blind woman 20 years older than she was, came over for a visit. Knapp sat down at the piano to play the woman a tune she'd just composed. She asked the older woman what she thought the melody was saying, and the older woman--who's name was Fanny Crosby-- replied "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine."

For the second verse, Crosby wrote: "Perfect submission, perfect delight, / visions of rapture now burst on my sight; / angels descending bring from above / echoes of mercy, whispers of love."

Posted via email from jsb

octopus love story

a cool short (last year, oscar nominated)

an octopus is determined to save the love of his life...

via Oktapodi

Posted via email from s@lly l-j