BEDA 30 - Good Night April - A Poem

Good night April, Good morning May Day.

BEDA was a prosperous journey, and greater work still. But now you are going away.

Not the practice, no, I will still blog, vlog, and Tweet.

But the marathon is over. Say my brain and conscience "oh sweet!"

I know now that there are always things to say, to write, to share.

But now I can think more deeply and actually prepare.

The news, knowledge, and fun, I would like to present to my peers.

And so, BEDA, I now drink one for your departure. Cheers!

BEDA #26 - Collaborative Writing is Much Fun

Earlier this week, My BEDA Buddy Karson (see http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/profile/KarsonReed) posted a Writing Game, called 55.

Here are the rules (hoping this isn't cheating by reposting someone else's BEDA...)

1. Stories may be only fifty-five words long or shorter.
2. If it’s in the dictionary, it counts as a word.
3. Contractions count as single words.
4. Hyphenated words count as two words if the words become free-standing words when the hyphen is removed. Example: “free-standing” and “blue-green” are counted as two words; “ex-mayor” is counted as one word.
5. Initials count as a word because they stand for a word. Examples: “J.K.Rowling” and “L. L. Bean” count as three words each.
6. Acronyms count as one word because they are used as words. Examples: NASA, IBM, USA, NATO
7. Numbers count as words also. When using digits, numbers count as only one word, but when spelled out, they count as the number of words used. Examples: “twenty-eight” counts as two words, “28” counts as one word.
8. Titles may be up to seven words in length. Words used in the title do not count against the fifty-five words allowed in the story.
9. The story has to have a beginning, middle, and end.
10 Bonus challenge: create a twist or surprise at the end of the story!

If you read this, please take a few minutes to particpate. I think this could turn into something really big and cool, or really big and rediculous. Either way, it will be fun.

Here is how you participate.

First, go to http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lets-play-a-game-called-55

Read the original post, then Cassandra's contribution, and then mine. Post the next thrilling page in the story. Hope to read your post soon!

BEDA Buddy Episode 3 - Meet Karson

Yay, Yay, It is Karson's Day!!!

Karson is another BEDA Buddy that Maureen Johnson was so awesome in picking for me. MJ likes to do these match making blogs, and I thought they were kind of silly. But, I know now that she really does have a talent for this, at least for friends.

Here is my Top 10 of why Karson is Awesome!

10. Her name ends in the "n" sound. So do all my children. It really is an awesome name. I would like to know how she got it. If I was still having children, I would name my 4th child Karson. It would not matter if I had a boy or a girl (... must find a novena that covers me from having more children, might have jinxed myself).

9. She is on Twitter - @karsonreed - Follow Her Now!

8. She has a blog on a ning site - http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/profile/KarsonReed - Once again, Follow this NOW! You will learn why if you keep reading.

7. She is on Facebook, but you can't be her friend just because you read this, you have to be special like me. I am HER BEDA Buddy and I will only share her with Rafia and Cassandra, so no stalking!

6. Despite the aforementioned #'s 7, 8, and 9, Karson thinks that she is somehow behind the game on this Web 2.0 thing. I mean, seriously, she is a social networking diva! She even does all this stuff on her phone! Egads! woman, what else do you have to do to be high tech??? (wondering... if my iPhone and her Blackberry got together and had 2.0 babies, what would that look like? Thinking my iPhone is the guy, but I could be wrong?)

5. She is a teacher. Future of the world in her hands and what not. 'nuff said!

4. She is a Language Arts Teacher. She knows that reading and writing are the most important things in the world (obviously not money or job security considering her vocational calling).

3. She is a LA teacher for Middle School kids. I teach 10-12 grade. I do not have the cojones to teach students younger than this, especially middle school students. They scare me. Check out "You might teach middle school if..." My personal favorite - You believe "extremely annoying" should have its own box on the report card.

2. She is a Library Media Specialist! She says she "used" to be and is now in a smaller classroom, but really Karson, once you get the initial retina scan, undergo insertion of the "know it all" data chip in your brain, and learn the secret hand shake, there is no leaving. We are watching! And anyway, Batgirl was a librarian (wait a minute, Batgirl kind of looks like Karson... what if...?)



#1. She is a writer and can do the most amazing things with just 55 words. It should not be legal. And she blogs about it! Just puts it out there for the whole world to see. Really, you have got to see this! (I WILL answer your challenge Karson. I am just not as awesome as you with brevity. I have to tell all my dirty secrets in long hand.)

So, you have now met the gang. Twitter, Maureen Johnson, and Providence -- Thanks!


P.S. Karson. It is OK if you correct my grammatical errors. I can handle it.

BEDA Buddy Episode 2 - Meet Cassandra

Maureen Johnson is 2 for 2. Tonight I want to introduce (drum role...) Cassandra, another gal pal in our BEDA 2.0 chick-posse.

So, now that I have had a virtual bowl of chili with Rafia in Texas while watching vintage episodes of Wonder Woman, I am going to go to some nerd's house and play Dungeons and Dragons with Cassandra. Here we are below as "Specialist Wizards" (original artist Emily Fiegenschuh).


Man, we are two, too hot sorceresses! I think the strange thing between us is the guy whose D&D party we are crashing and the guy behind us tried to tell us that D&D, Fantasy Fiction, and reading is for losers.

So, Cassandra and I love Fantasy Fic. We really love YA Fantasy. I love Cassandra because she actually used the phrase "speculative fiction" in her BEDA Buddy classified add. When someone does this, I know they possess very strong Magik indeed.

We have another very interesting thing in common. We both had a thing for X files. In one of Cassandra's blog entries (which is at http://phoenixrune.livejournal.com/GO FOLLOW NOW!), she has this awesome entry on X files and railroad spikes. (note to educators and LMS's --PhoenixRune's entry on X files is THE quintessential example of how true free inquiry based learning should happen!).

Well, B'B, I have a X files story for you. It has become and always will be a favorite family story.

Back in the mid to late 90's I was pretty much obsessed with X-files. I would put my daughter (who is now 16) to bed and then run back to the family room to switch on X-files.

One night, she couldn't sleep and came out to sit with me on the couch. I wasn't paying attention to the show much (probably writing a paper or something) and my daughter was traumatized by what is now called the "Popsicle" scene. In this episode, a lady takes her daughter and her little girl's scary doll to the grocery story. Everyone in the store starts mutilating themselves. Back in the frozen food isle, a worker stabs himself in the eye with a Popsicle, INSIDE the freezer case.

About the time my daughter witnessed this, I realized what was going on, turned off the TV, and put my daughter to bed again. A few minutes later, she was crying because she was scared. I told her that after I turned the TV back on, the guy pulled a joke Popsicle out of his eye and said in a funny voice "Just Kidding!" Yeah, it was lame and she didn't believe me, and she was only 5 years old." When she was 14, she admitted to me that from that night on, anytime she heard the X-files opening music, she would hide under her covers. And man, I watched that show forever! Bad, bad parenting...

I remembered at the time that I thought this episode was a bit scary and horrific even for X-files. After doing some research tonight, I discovered that Stephen King actually wrote this episode! No wonder... I couldn't find the Popsicle scene, but here is the trailer. The episode title is Chinga:



The good news is that my daughter seems to be OK and has not suffered long term trauma. She does like to give me a hard time about it still. It is a source of great pleasure for her :).

So, I am thinking that Cassandra and I will get along just fine in our virtual fantasy world. If you Tweet, follow her at @PhoenixRune.

Tomorrow, last but not least...

BEDA

Hi YA's and Librarian Friends,

I am getting ready to Blog everyday in April! If you want more information on BEDA, you should look at Maureen Johnson's (YA Authors Extraordinaire) new ning site , http://maureenjohnson.ning.com/. You don't have to have your own blog page set up, you can easily set one up on her site in minutes.

Reading and Writing and Writing and Reading! This is what makes the world go 'round.