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Monday, November third, 2008
Chapter 5 of The Golden Compass -- now things are starting to get really interesting. Sylvia and I are both on the edge of our seat. I really like the way Pullman drops hints about what's going on -- very graceful, they are not so cryptic you can't easily pick up on them, but they are not hammered into your ears either. A bit like reading a good whodunit. And at the end of the cocktail party scene, the transition to Lyra fleeing from Mrs. Coulter's house was handled very well. This book just feels elegant.
 (Note from an adult reading a kids' book -- it was such an eerie feeling I had, to be identifying with Mrs. Coulter as I read her cruel disciplinarian lines to Lyra before the party. I can't recall ever feeling this way though I've read many children's books with authoritarian adult figures in them.)
posted evening of November third, 2008: Respond
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Thursday, October 30th, 2008
Chapter 4 of The Golden Compass: Sylvia and I are both, separately, trying to figure out why the Master sends Lyra off with Mrs. Coulter,  who is obviously a Bad Guy. Sylvia laid out her hypothesis to me: Sylvia: Dad? What is that thing the Master gave Lyra? What did he say it could do? Me: The Alethiometer you mean? He said it was a machine that would tell her the truth. Sylvia: ...I think it's going to tell her that she's a Gobbler. He knows it and he wants it to tell her. Me: Hm, that sounds like it could be...
(A minute later) If he knows though, why doesn't he just tell her? Sylvia: Because she would probably just refuse.
That's a good thought. I also am working on an idea where maybe Mrs. Coulter's kid-stealing activities are actually benign, or serving a greater good, and we've been misled by the children's talk of Gobblers. The distinction between Good Guys and Bad Guys is not as clear in this book as in most of the other stuff we've read before. But I think Sylvia's idea is probably closer to right.
posted evening of October 30th, 2008: Respond
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Thursday, October 23rd, 2008
Sylvia has been absolutely absorbed with reading and listening to and watching the Harry Potter books and books-on-tape and movies for a couple of months now. This is my introduction to the series as well -- I am pretty familiar with the plots of books 1 and 6 now from hearing Sylvia's tapes repeatedly, and have a glancing knowledge of the rest of the series from her narration of the events. Somehow it's not really drawing me in to read them myself -- some interesting bits but the overall structure doesn't really appeal to me. But I did recall having Pullman's His Dark Materials series recommended to me time and again, and that seemed like it would have enough points of similarity to Harry Potter to be generate interest quickly. So we've been starting to read that together over the last few days. Really nice language and plot, and Lyra's character is starting to come together. Sylvia's totally interested in the dæmons, what they are and what they do.
posted evening of October 23rd, 2008: Respond
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Saturday, September 13th, 2008
Sylvia and I went to an FCC event on Long Island this morning -- one of the members organized a fishing trip, we figured it would be worth getting up early and driving out there, to meet up with Ron and Nadia. So we were out of bed at 5 this morning, and drove out to Captree State Park to board the good ship Capt. Eddie B. III. Lots of other little kids and parents were on board, including Ron and Nadia; we weighed anchor at 8 and motored over to the tip of the island. Sylvia and Nadia were interested in the fishing about half the time, and otherwise in running around the ship. Sylvia caught a baby bluefish and threw it back, I caught a couple of baby bass and a very energetic snapper, all of whom returned to the water. It was a pretty good time.
posted evening of September 13th, 2008: Respond
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Thursday, September 11th, 2008
Kathy's inaugural post at The Edge of the American West makes me wonder how much of the relevant history Sylvia knows about. I don't believe we've talked about it at any length with her; but she has made references to it. Maybe we should go over it some, she's getting old enough. (The events took place just a few days after we had come home from China.)
Not sure if it's a coincidence or what; but on this day, on this date, I find myself wanting to post some tower imagery. Below the fold for more.
posted afternoon of September 11th, 2008: Respond
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Friday, September 5th, 2008
Sylvia and I were taking Pixie out for a walk this evening and we decided to head down to the park. (Well "we decided" is not exactly how it happened; more like, Sylvia says "When we get home can I play ToonTown?" and I seek a diversion by saying "Let's go down to the park.") She found a cast-off tennis ball and was practicing throwing it overhand. This was really interesting for me to watch -- I don't really have any memory of trying to master a physical motion, at least not until I was much older. My childhood was singularly unathletic and, well, pretty much uncoordinated. Sylvia seemed to be paying a lot of attention to how to move her arm to throw the ball properly. She asked me to throw it so she could see how to do it -- and it seems pretty effortless to me at this point to throw a ball overhand, though I never worked at it. Maybe Sylvia will get a better arm than I have, by being interested in the mechanism of it. On the way home from the park Sylvia said "Look at that sunset!" And it was indeed a breathtakingly beautiful one -- the darkening sky mostly blue to the west except for a small bank of cirrus clouds shadowed charcoal-grey; and in front of that a tiny wisp of cirrus glowing hot pink in the dying rays of the sun. (Meanwhile to the east, storm clouds are rolling in -- we're supposed to get a ton of rain tonight and tomorrow.)
posted evening of September 5th, 2008: Respond
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The school bus was on time today! Even early -- we were walking to the bus stop and saw it pulling away. Fortunately it was headed in our direction, and the driver pulled over to let Sylvia in. I had a sort of nice, neighborhood-y feeling as I walked back home, and driving out of the neighborhood to work -- saw a lot of people I know bringing their kids out to the school bus.
posted morning of September 5th, 2008: Respond
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Thursday, September 4th, 2008
Today is Sylvia's first day of third grade! She's starting at a new school. We're all going out together now to walk down to the bus stop...
 Aargh... Well the bus was 45 minutes late. But Sylvia's in school! And we met some neighbors whose son is starting kindergarten, who seem like nice people.
posted morning of September 4th, 2008: Respond
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Monday, August 4th, 2008
Some new pictures are up at the READIN Family Album -- a mix of stuff from the last few weeks including Ellen and Sylvia's trip to Cambridge, our outing to "Playing the Building", and an epic battle between Lola and Pixie. Here is a great shot of Ellen and Sylvia (who is herself the photographer): 
posted evening of August 4th, 2008: Respond
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Thursday, July 24th, 2008
 I was moved just now to look up and see who Sylvia's new school is named after. Turns out the man was an inventor and engineer who lived in Newark, and then later in Hilton, the town which is now the easternmost neighborhood in Maplewood.
There is a statue of him in Washington Park in Newark, the little triangle of grass outside the Newark Museum -- I have seen that statue many times but never looked at the name on it. The statue was erected in the 1890's*; here is a New York Times article (PDF) from 1909, about a memorial exhibition of his tools opening at the Newark Public Library.
This carven bronze! In face and form it stands
To honor him, a son of toil so true
That from his brain and never tiring hands
Labor was crowned with dignity anew!
For him dull iron welded firmest bar,
And steam and gold gave out a secret lore,
The round sunlight beams sent him from afar,
And silver wielded best of molten ore.
We went to a picnic this evening for new Seth Boyden kids and parents. Seems like a lot of kids from Marshall are transferring over to Seth Boyden for next year!
*Unveiled on May 14, 1890, further research reveals -- Newark's Central Labor Union boycotted the unveiling because the company that erected the memorial did not use union labor. Also: the Times obituary for Mr. Boyden (second one down), and a notice of his funeral -- their archives get pretty hard to read that far back. The Boyden homestead in Hilton burned down in 1903. (All these links are PDF's -- looks like scans of old Times microfilm.)
posted evening of July 24th, 2008: Respond
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The Virginia Quarterly Review publishes a newly translated 