Hey Mom (or Dear Sister or Brother or...). You know, my birthday is soon and, well, you know how y'all are always complaining about how disorganized I can be? Well, check out this great stuff from THE ORGANIZED KNITTER.
My knitting bag (and probably my life in general) would certainly be far better organized, not to mention cuter, if I had some of these fab items.
Love,
Kate
Saturday
Two college students from Knoxville were injured in the bomb blasts in London this week. Apparently, according to the KNS, they are GOING TO BE OKAY, and that's very good news.
But I find one quote in the article about their injuries and recovery in a London hospital really offensive:
""They were in the subway car that a bomb was in, so they believe that God spared them," according to the Web site of the family's church, Fellowship Evangelical Free Church in West Knoxville.
Do these folks not recognize that this is just another (in this case, Christian) variation on the religious bigotry and sense of entitlement that is the underpinning of Muslim fanaticism...the type of Muslim fanaticism that leads Islamofascists to, say, blow up subway cars during London rush hour?
But I find one quote in the article about their injuries and recovery in a London hospital really offensive:
""They were in the subway car that a bomb was in, so they believe that God spared them," according to the Web site of the family's church, Fellowship Evangelical Free Church in West Knoxville.
Do these folks not recognize that this is just another (in this case, Christian) variation on the religious bigotry and sense of entitlement that is the underpinning of Muslim fanaticism...the type of Muslim fanaticism that leads Islamofascists to, say, blow up subway cars during London rush hour?
Friday
Janeane! No!
Oh. My. Gawd.
Not only is the previously super-cool Janeane Garafolo starring in some bizarre Oxygen Network TV movie that looks really stupid (I used to be a producer at Oxygen, by the way), she has clearly had collagen injected into her lips.
Check out the horror RIGHT HERE
What is this world coming to?
Not only is the previously super-cool Janeane Garafolo starring in some bizarre Oxygen Network TV movie that looks really stupid (I used to be a producer at Oxygen, by the way), she has clearly had collagen injected into her lips.
Check out the horror RIGHT HERE
What is this world coming to?
Thursday
socks
I took the afternoon off today to get some errands done and my house clean. Instead, I find myself holed up on my couch, glued to newsradio (remember, we don't have television) listening to the word from London.
I love London. I spent a school term living there, interning with a member of the British House of Commons (got to e-mail her today to make sure she's okay) and going to the U. of London. It was one of the best times of my life and I would really be very happy to live there. I'm really feeling blue about the attacks today.
As I'm listening, I'm working on a pair of socks I'm knitting. Socks are my new knitting obsession. They are so quick and the payoff is very gratifying. Who doesn't love a pair of handmade socks in supersoft, babyweight wool? I still struggle a bit with double pointed needles, but THIS SITE has helped a lot, with its step-by-step photos and clear instructions.
Knitting is a very zen activity for me -- good to do when I'm upset about something and I'm definitely upset today about what's happening in London. One of the underground stations that was hit is right up the street from my London apartment...
I love London. I spent a school term living there, interning with a member of the British House of Commons (got to e-mail her today to make sure she's okay) and going to the U. of London. It was one of the best times of my life and I would really be very happy to live there. I'm really feeling blue about the attacks today.
As I'm listening, I'm working on a pair of socks I'm knitting. Socks are my new knitting obsession. They are so quick and the payoff is very gratifying. Who doesn't love a pair of handmade socks in supersoft, babyweight wool? I still struggle a bit with double pointed needles, but THIS SITE has helped a lot, with its step-by-step photos and clear instructions.
Knitting is a very zen activity for me -- good to do when I'm upset about something and I'm definitely upset today about what's happening in London. One of the underground stations that was hit is right up the street from my London apartment...
Wednesday
obituarists
Did you know that writers who pen obituaries for a living have a name? They're "obituarists." I knew that, but didn't know 'til today that they have their own International Society of Obituarists, which holds an annual conference. You can read about it RIGHT HERE.
I was lucky enough to know one of the great modern obituarists: the late Bob Thomas of the New York Times. He was a lovely, funny, clever man who threw wonderful parties.
This book is a collection of his best obits. Highly recommended.
I was lucky enough to know one of the great modern obituarists: the late Bob Thomas of the New York Times. He was a lovely, funny, clever man who threw wonderful parties.
This book is a collection of his best obits. Highly recommended.
best east tennessee bands?
I'm taking votes over at my WBIR blog for the best East TN rock & roll bands ever.
Pop over and share your thoughts on the topic.
--Katie
Pop over and share your thoughts on the topic.
--Katie
call for submissions
I spoke in Atlanta in April and met this very cool woman who puts out a 'zine called "Scream Machine." She's looking for submissions for the next issue and here's the info she sent me. E-mail me (katieallisongranju - at - yahoo.com) for her contact info if you want to send her something:
Ok, alright, I've officially been accused of resting on my laurels! Resting maybe, but... CHICKABUNGA! it's time to break a beak and get going on the summer issue of Screamachine!
I am blessed by knowing some extremely organized and prolific writers who have already submitted some primo pieces for the issue. One of my dear friends has a great idea for cover art and I'm hoping to press her into duty on that job. But I still need some more quality essays on motherhood (aka momoirs or creative mom-fiction). Would also love another poem or two. Fun, funky photos are always appreciated.
In addition, I'll be considering more of those fun tips for moms -- irreverent parenting advice. (Some headings to jog your memory: "I NEVER THOUGHT" "I NEVER KNEW" "NOBODY EVER TELLS YOU" "WE DON'T..." and anything else at all you can think of that you would never find in Child or Parents Magazines.)
As a final feature (and late Father's Day tribute) I'm asking everyone to explore how your relationship with your father affects your life as a mom. The mom-daughter relationship has been explored relentlessly, but what about papa? I for one, spend 90 percent of the time with my dad wondering what he thinks about the way I parent. I'm too chicken to ask, so I started writing little letters instead. The latest reads "Dear Dad, I know asking 'how are the kids?' is your way of asking how I am, too. Please can you ask about me first sometime? Even after all these years, I'm still your little girl. And in the thick of this parenting mayhem, I sometimes need your babying more than ever." If you have a letter to your dad you want to share, (signed or unsigned -- nom de plumes and childhood nicknames allowed) feel free to forward it. Please keep it fairly short and specific. If you have several topics to cover with the old man, please submit as separate letters.
Deadline for essays, stories and shorts for the next issue is FAST approaching. August 3 to be exact.
I need a show of hands of people who think they will be contributing. If you can specify what you think you'll be writing, that would be helpful for planning, too.
I know you've got the creative super powers, hope you can make a little time to share them with us! Thanks in advance for what I know will be another incredible issue,
A,©& J -- mEg
Proud creator of "Screamachine: The Mamacoaster Zine"
"30-some pages crammed to the margins with the messy, moving, miraculous tales of our many, varied, soulful mama lives."
Ok, alright, I've officially been accused of resting on my laurels! Resting maybe, but... CHICKABUNGA! it's time to break a beak and get going on the summer issue of Screamachine!
I am blessed by knowing some extremely organized and prolific writers who have already submitted some primo pieces for the issue. One of my dear friends has a great idea for cover art and I'm hoping to press her into duty on that job. But I still need some more quality essays on motherhood (aka momoirs or creative mom-fiction). Would also love another poem or two. Fun, funky photos are always appreciated.
In addition, I'll be considering more of those fun tips for moms -- irreverent parenting advice. (Some headings to jog your memory: "I NEVER THOUGHT" "I NEVER KNEW" "NOBODY EVER TELLS YOU" "WE DON'T..." and anything else at all you can think of that you would never find in Child or Parents Magazines.)
As a final feature (and late Father's Day tribute) I'm asking everyone to explore how your relationship with your father affects your life as a mom. The mom-daughter relationship has been explored relentlessly, but what about papa? I for one, spend 90 percent of the time with my dad wondering what he thinks about the way I parent. I'm too chicken to ask, so I started writing little letters instead. The latest reads "Dear Dad, I know asking 'how are the kids?' is your way of asking how I am, too. Please can you ask about me first sometime? Even after all these years, I'm still your little girl. And in the thick of this parenting mayhem, I sometimes need your babying more than ever." If you have a letter to your dad you want to share, (signed or unsigned -- nom de plumes and childhood nicknames allowed) feel free to forward it. Please keep it fairly short and specific. If you have several topics to cover with the old man, please submit as separate letters.
Deadline for essays, stories and shorts for the next issue is FAST approaching. August 3 to be exact.
I need a show of hands of people who think they will be contributing. If you can specify what you think you'll be writing, that would be helpful for planning, too.
I know you've got the creative super powers, hope you can make a little time to share them with us! Thanks in advance for what I know will be another incredible issue,
A,©& J -- mEg
Proud creator of "Screamachine: The Mamacoaster Zine"
"30-some pages crammed to the margins with the messy, moving, miraculous tales of our many, varied, soulful mama lives."
child labor
I am childcare-less this morning, so Elliot has come to work with me. I used to hang around in the newsroom(s) with my mother and father and my mother did the same with her mother (also a reporter/editor). Elliot says he likes it and wants to be either a pro bass fisherman or a journalist.
Tuesday
more on the twilight sentinels
Last Thursday night, I went to Preservation Pub to see The Twilight Sentinels play. I'd seen them once before, a few months back, and thought they were great. This time, I was even more impressed.
The band reminds me of The Cramps; they have a very tight, very fast rockabilly sound, but with a punk overlay. There's definitely some surf music in there, and you can tell that Brandon Cottongim, the amazing bassist (that's a huge stand-up bass, by the way) is a jazz fan.
Tom Appleton, the guitarist and lead singer, is a Knoxville expat (and former Cyberflix guy) now living in Atlanta, which means the band hasn't had too many Knoxville area gigs yet. But as more people hear this band, they're going to be in high demand.
I plan to go see them whenever I get the chance, including in Atlanta when they play there, which I think Brandon's wife Patty told me would be soon. They're worth the trip.
I'll let you know when they play next and then you should go see them too. They're Knoxville's current great undiscovered gem of a band. I like being an early adopter, but I hope more folks get the chance to see them play in coming months. Then, when people rave about how great they are, I can say I told you so.
--Katie
PS: I am thinking of getting a tattoo, my first, and Brandon said he'd do it for me. He's a really good artist (check out his stuff on the site linked above), so... I'm the last person in America without any ink on her body, but I'm thinking of letting go of my tattoo virginity...
Elliot's Hair
Contrast big brother Henry's head of hair with little brother Elliot's lack thereof...
Sunday
shasta groene
Like every other parent, kidnapping is my most primal fear. And like many parents all over the country, I was both thrilled and horrified to hear that Shasta Groene was found alive yesterday, sitting in a Denny's Restaurant only miles from her Idaho home where last month, her family was murdered and she and her little brother Dylan were kidnapped.
Sitting with her in the restaurant booth at 2am ( a sharp eyed waitress spotted them) was a convicted sex offender with a history of child rape.
He is in custody. She's been reunited with her remaining family, but Dylan Groene is likely dead, based on what the police have been saying since finding Shasta Groene.
This morning I was reading some local (Idaho) coverage of this case and ran across THIS BLOG, kept by the sex offender who had Shasta. That's right, the man, Joseph Edward Duncan, kept a blog and only stopped posting in it a few days before the kids were taken and their family bludgeoned to death.
In his last entries, he said his dark side had taken over again and he knew something bad was going to happen.
If you read back through the blog, it's clear this guy NEEDED TO BE LOCKED UP...forever. He alternately claimed total innocence for the stuff he had done and then talked about his struggles with his own mind and impulses. Of course, he also refers to all the ways he was hurt and victimized as a child, which is probably completely true. I have a lot of compassion for the fact that 99.9% of child molesters were once molested children.
But the bottom line is that sex offenders do not, as a rule, ever, ever "get well." Yet we sentence them with an assumption that some level of rehabilitation is possible. Many of them, including John Couey, the man who killed Jessica Lunsford in Florida a few months ago have openly pleaded NOT to be released from prison (At one hearing, he told the parole board he knew he would hurt children if he were released. At his next parole hearing he told them he was all better, so they let him go.)
Many people who kill someone in passion will certainly never, ever hurt anyone again. They pose no threat to anyone, yet they are sent to prison for decades or life. Rapists, particularly child rapists, are highly, highly likely to commit more crimes and to escalate the violence associated with their crimes, yet we sentence them to much shorter sentences.
I am anti-death penalty. I am pro-rehabilitative services in prisons. But we have to reprioritize our sentencing laws to reflect what we increasingly know for certain about people who rape children. I don't want us sending a guy who sells crack to prison for thirty years and a child rapist to prison for six years. Child rapists should get life in prison or lifetime, locked mental hospital stays.
Sitting with her in the restaurant booth at 2am ( a sharp eyed waitress spotted them) was a convicted sex offender with a history of child rape.
He is in custody. She's been reunited with her remaining family, but Dylan Groene is likely dead, based on what the police have been saying since finding Shasta Groene.
This morning I was reading some local (Idaho) coverage of this case and ran across THIS BLOG, kept by the sex offender who had Shasta. That's right, the man, Joseph Edward Duncan, kept a blog and only stopped posting in it a few days before the kids were taken and their family bludgeoned to death.
In his last entries, he said his dark side had taken over again and he knew something bad was going to happen.
If you read back through the blog, it's clear this guy NEEDED TO BE LOCKED UP...forever. He alternately claimed total innocence for the stuff he had done and then talked about his struggles with his own mind and impulses. Of course, he also refers to all the ways he was hurt and victimized as a child, which is probably completely true. I have a lot of compassion for the fact that 99.9% of child molesters were once molested children.
But the bottom line is that sex offenders do not, as a rule, ever, ever "get well." Yet we sentence them with an assumption that some level of rehabilitation is possible. Many of them, including John Couey, the man who killed Jessica Lunsford in Florida a few months ago have openly pleaded NOT to be released from prison (At one hearing, he told the parole board he knew he would hurt children if he were released. At his next parole hearing he told them he was all better, so they let him go.)
Many people who kill someone in passion will certainly never, ever hurt anyone again. They pose no threat to anyone, yet they are sent to prison for decades or life. Rapists, particularly child rapists, are highly, highly likely to commit more crimes and to escalate the violence associated with their crimes, yet we sentence them to much shorter sentences.
I am anti-death penalty. I am pro-rehabilitative services in prisons. But we have to reprioritize our sentencing laws to reflect what we increasingly know for certain about people who rape children. I don't want us sending a guy who sells crack to prison for thirty years and a child rapist to prison for six years. Child rapists should get life in prison or lifetime, locked mental hospital stays.
Saturday
signs you've had a good evening out
1.) You return home with a flower tucked behind your ear
2.) you feel like jumping on the trampoline in your backyard even though you're wearing a pink, silk, backless dress
3.)You're still humming the bass line from the band
4.)You fall asleep smiling
5.) You hope and feel pretty sure that someone will call the next day
2.) you feel like jumping on the trampoline in your backyard even though you're wearing a pink, silk, backless dress
3.)You're still humming the bass line from the band
4.)You fall asleep smiling
5.) You hope and feel pretty sure that someone will call the next day
Friday
sleater kinney/tim lee band
Sundown in the City last night was the best yet, in my opinion. The crowd was big, but not overwhelming, and was perhaps the most diverse group of folks I've ever seen gathered together in Knoxville at a non-political event. Young and old people. Mothers and daughters. Lots of gay families. The usual Downtown suspects, and many, many teenagers. It was great.
After threatened storms, the weather even held out all night.
The Tim Lee band was predictably awesome, playing some great new songs I had not heard. Don Coffey, Jr was on drums.
Sleater Kinney was simply one of the best shows I've ever seen in Knoxville. There was very little stagey-ness and not much banter with the crowd, but these women just got right down to business and played 90 minutes of near-perfect post-punk powerpop.
They played some of the stuff from their new record, "Into the Woods," but also many of my old faves like "You're No Rock and Roll Fun."
Everyone seemed to be having a great time. I chatted with Ashley Capps of AC Entertainment and he said he was very pleased with the size and make-up of the crowd. I told him again what a greattime I had at Bonnaroo, and he told me that AC is launching a new music festival in October -- Halloween weekend -- in Las Vegas of all places. The Flaming Lips will headline. I'll write more about it when I get more details.
After threatened storms, the weather even held out all night.
The Tim Lee band was predictably awesome, playing some great new songs I had not heard. Don Coffey, Jr was on drums.
Sleater Kinney was simply one of the best shows I've ever seen in Knoxville. There was very little stagey-ness and not much banter with the crowd, but these women just got right down to business and played 90 minutes of near-perfect post-punk powerpop.
They played some of the stuff from their new record, "Into the Woods," but also many of my old faves like "You're No Rock and Roll Fun."
Everyone seemed to be having a great time. I chatted with Ashley Capps of AC Entertainment and he said he was very pleased with the size and make-up of the crowd. I told him again what a greattime I had at Bonnaroo, and he told me that AC is launching a new music festival in October -- Halloween weekend -- in Las Vegas of all places. The Flaming Lips will headline. I'll write more about it when I get more details.
jimmy buffett on my desk
This is my desk, today, with the tasty tropical beverage I am consuming. When I came in to work this morning, I discovered that the entire newsroom was celebrating...I swear to goodness I am not making this up ... Jimmy Buffett Day.
(Get background on my ANTI JIMMY BUFFETT STANCE)
There is JB music playing, coconuts scattered about...even a full size tiki hut set up in the corner.
:::sigh:::
Cosmic irony.
But the pineapple smoothies are good.
(Get background on my ANTI JIMMY BUFFETT STANCE)
There is JB music playing, coconuts scattered about...even a full size tiki hut set up in the corner.
:::sigh:::
Cosmic irony.
But the pineapple smoothies are good.
karl rove is wrong
His comments last week about progressives' response to 9-11 were TOTALLY MISGUIDED
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