(no subject)

I had a choice between pain tomorrow and enjoying today so I chose to enjoy today: carbs do wonders for a grumpy Gillian. And I can just see the disapproving look on my doctor's face... but little things continued to niggle well after I posted my LJ whinge and by 5 pm I just couldn't take it any longer.

Carbohydrates, you will be pleased to know, almost righted the world, and I was able to enjoy the Romance Gauntlet. I asked the Security Guard if he enjoyed it too, and he admitted he did, but it wasn't the usual sort of function hosted at the National Museum. In fact, the walls blushed red at some of the readings, and the carpet turned from grey to a pale pink. The audience was still as still. None of the usual twitches you get even with good readings. The most pure attention I have ever seen.

What was most interesting is the nature of the audience's attention. Early on, a couple of the men present were surveying the women, and the women were clustered with friends. Within a half hour, though, the eyes stopped wandering and the clusters became fixed. For the best of the readings (Maxine McArthur's, for instance) even faces became still. Hands lay at people's sides, or arms were akimbo, or a person had one hand to her face: no other postures. The only movement was in reaction to the text being read and that was, oddly enough, individuals reaching for their hair and grooming it gently and quickly. Some people leaned forward; some people leaned back: every single one of them echoed their neighbours' stillness. Only one member of the audience consistently broke this trend and that was capnoblivious. Oh, and me, since I was watching everyone. So two people.

Erotica appears to be a very internal listening experience. Curious. I wonder how much of it was this group. Still, one of the most *interesting* audiences I have watched.

(no subject)

Look what I have!

Literacy project

The new school year in Louisiana has had major setbacks because of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Louisiana has had, historically, major problems with literacy (the statistic that comes to mind is 68% literacy, statewide, but I don't know how current it is). Last year Team Dynamite (a group of 12-13 year olds at Dutchtown Middle School in Geismar, Ascension Parish), decided to do something about it. They have been succeeded by The Asteroid Team and both groups are just taking the crises in their stride. Their school has opened a second campus so that children from displaced families don't miss out, since damage in Asscension Parish was minor compared with places like Lake Charles and New Orleans. If The Asteroid Team has to build a second library for the evacuated children then that is what they do. On top of their regular literacy progam.

These kids are awesome. You can find them here: http://teacherweb.com/LA/DutchtownMiddleSchool/FortheLoveofLiteracy/HTMLPage3.stm

I find myself relieved I don't know as many people in other crisis zones as I do in Louisiana. I have reached the stage where I just can't watch the evening news. One thing I have learned though, is how admirable so many people in disaster zones are: they find a way of continuing, somehow. And every now and then something happens that makes me realise that these people are doing more than barely keeping on going. The kids in Geismar collecting books for a library for displaced children brought that home today.

I need to get back to catching up on work, but some detours just have to be made.