The Shallows

The Shallows
What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains
by Nicholas Carr
W. W. Norton & Co, 2010

Carr acknowledges that several of the bloggers he follows, while aware of the changes the Internet has made in their reading and thinking habits, are not overly concerned about this and actually see more benefits than losses in the exchange. Bruce Friedman, a pathologist at the University of Michigan Medical School tells him that he's "never been more creative" and attributes this to "my blog and the ability to review/scan 'tons' of information on the web."

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In Review: The Hawaii Farmers Market Cookbook

The Hawaii Farmers Market Cookbook
by Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation
Watermark Publishing, 2010

The first volume in this 2-volume set, "Fresh Island Products from A to Z" provides complete descriptions of products, explains what to look for when purchasing, and how to prepare your finds. Full-color photographs help identify "mystery fruits" and the unprocessed form of foods market visitors may have previously only encountered chopped and cooked.

Volume 2: The Chefs' Guide to Fresh Island Foods contains more than 75 great recipes by Island culinary stars.

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In Review: The Abundant Community

The Abundant Community
Awakening the Power of Families and Neighborhoods
by John McKnight and Peter Block
Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2010

This book reminds us that a neighborhood that can raise a child, provide security, sustain our health, secure our income, and care for our vulnerable people is within the power of our community.

In The Abundant Community, authors John McKnight and Peter Block reveal the invisible but immeasurable impact consumerism has had on our families and communities.

We are besieged by messages from consumer society telling us that we are insufficient, that we must purchase what we need from specialists and systems outside the community. We outsource our health care, child care, relationships, recreation, our safety, and our satisfaction. We are trained to become consumers and clients, not citizens and neighbors.

McKnight and Block take a thoughtful look at how this situation came about, what maintains it, and the crippling effect it has had on our families, our communities, and our environment.

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Good Old Books: Cheerleading and Marching Bands

Cheerleading and Marching Bands
by Newt Loken and Otis Dypwick
A.S. Barnes & Co., 1945

Mass cheering is as old as the history of armed combat. Way back in ancient times throngs of excited people lined the route of march of returning victorious warriors to cheer their conquests.

The modern high school and college phase of cheering led by a designated individual was ushered in at the University of Minnesota in 1898.

Mass cheering is as old as the history of armed combat. Way back in ancient times throngs of excited people lined the route of march of returning victorious warriors to cheer their conquests.

The modern high school and college phase of cheering led by a designated individual was ushered in at the University of Minnesota in 1898.

Johnny Campbell, an undergraduate, was selected yell marshall in that year. He stood before a football assemblage and directed it in the recitation of 'Rah-Rah-Rah...... Ski-u-Mah... Minne-so-ta!"

Although more than 30,000 high schools and colleges in the United States now engage in group vocal expression under the direction of cheerleaders, no one has ever prepared and published an authoritative text on the subject, one designed to instruct in detail on fundamentals and to raise the national standard of excellence.

It is to this end we present Cheerleading as a member of the Barnes Sports Library.

-- from the Introduction

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Atomic Farmgirl

That time of year the wheat fields were almost a lime green, the heads threatening every day to turn yellow. The pea fields stretched for acres, with plants holding skinny, green pods not yet ready for me to pick. When they were ready, my mom always gave me the top of the double boiler to fill with fresh peas. We ate our fill, dinner after dinner, coated with Blue bonnet margarine, not ever making a dent in the fields that surrounded the house.

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The Shallows

We want to be interrupted, because each interruption brings us a valuable piece of information...

And so we ask the Internet to keep interrupting us, in ever more and different ways. We willingly accept the loss of concentration and focus, the division of our attention and the fragmentation of our thoughts, in return for the wealth of compelling or at least diverting information we receive. Tuning out is not an option many of us would consider.


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In Review: Animating Space

Animating Space From Mickey to WALL-E
by J.P. Telotte
The University Press of Kentucky, 2010

Animators work within a strictly defined, limited space that requires difficult artistic decisions. The blank frame presents a dilemma for all animators, and the decision of what to include and leave out raises important questions about artistry, authorship, and cultural influence.

Renowned scholar J. P. Telotte explores how animation has confronted the blank template, and how responses to that confrontation have changed.

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