TODAY I want to announce the launch of a new blog dedicated to subjects of pressing importance here in California -- education, books, technology, libraries and reading. Dig Me Out -- the name comes from the founder's roots in '90s indie rock -- looks at these subjects and takes a special interest in Young Adult fiction.It's run by Pasadena school librarian Sara Scribner, who like many of her ilk … [Read more...]
Archives for April 2010
Remembering the Civil Rights Years
LIKE a lot of people, I knew the reputation of Eyes on the Prize, the famous documentary about the civil rights movement in the Deep South in the '50s and '60s. But watching all six hours of it was simultaneously spirit-rousing and soul-crushing as I watched the movement beaten back time and time again.The documentary, which originally broadcast in 1987, has been out of circulation for decades, … [Read more...]
Johnny Cash It Is
GIVEN the people who seem to follow my blog, I expected Gram Parsons or Townes Van Zandt -- both key figures in that transition from country to alt-country -- to run away with this poll.But Johnny Cash, whose career was both driven and nearly undermined by his struggles with alcohol, drugs, politics and Christianity, comes out on top. He is, to my ear, the most complicated of his generation of … [Read more...]
Saving SoCal’s Libraries, Part 2
RECENTLY I wrote about the plan of Pasadena Unified School District to get rid of all of its school librarians and, probably, shut all of its school libraries. HERE is a new interview librarian Sara Scribner, who is also my wife, gave to her field's main publication, School Library Journal, on this and related topics.Sample exchange: Do you think administrators and teachers value school … [Read more...]