Monday, September 25, 2006

Ahhhhhhh

A friend of many moons sent me a link to Cocteau Twins videos.

For the record, Aikea-Guinea, Iceblink Luck, Bluebeard, and Evangeline are among those songs that strike that peculiar chord of Life and Love in me. Some of those you can't see on video are From the Flagstones, Lorelei, Orange Appled, and Know Who You Are at Every Age.

One last note. Don't worry about lyrics. This is a sound that transcends language. And for those who know me, that's quite something. I am a stickler about language (on paper and in my choices of music. In person, I pretend to be laid back, getting by with as few words as humanly possible.)

Every single song from this band is worth a listen. And on that note, I am off to my ipod to retreive these songs for my daughter.

Saturday, September 16, 2006

We love our German Shepherd!!

Yes, that's a corny phrase, but 2 thumbs up for Papa Benedict!

Evidently, the Muslims are enraged over a sound bite taken from Pope Benedict XVI's address at Uni Regensburg. If you have time, read the whole thing. If the newspapers were serious, they'd quit postulating that the Pope is not media savvy and print the whole text. Mass Communication... an oxymoron

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Eine schöne Schrift

or... how to teach children to write lovely letters.

I am picky about the strangest things. This is, I'm sure you know, a given.

Yikes! All I wanted was a nice, German font to teach the eldest cursive. Why? Well, I think the handwriting taught in school is lacking, and I really want something lovely. So... turns out the German font I preferred has an S that could be confused for an L. Fortunately, I tried before I bought.

I had another Schulschrift I bought last year. The only thing I don't like about that one is the t's look funny, crossed on the bottom rather than the middle. My graphics editor says he can fix it pretty easily. This is good, because the eldest really digs the new style, but wants to cross those t's!!

We're trying something unusual. The first quarter, most of her writing will be traced or, if an original work, retraced using this font. I believe one of the reasons penmanship suffers so in this country is a lack of correct practice. You can't really expect perfect penmaship from copying off a board, can you? (Not a rhetorical question!)

Any of my teacher friends who have insight or opinions about the correct methodolgy and/or current state of handwriting , drop a line.