L.E. Carmichael's Blog, page 38
March 21, 2016
Top Five Signs It Might Actually Be Spring
Yesterday was the vernal equinox – the day with equal hours of light and darkness that marks the coming of spring. “Equal” being an approximate term, of course, depending on your latitude. At this time last year, my particular latitude was covered in several feet of snow… snow that lasted so long, a friend who came out to visit in April spent a good chunk of her time tromping around on snowshoes while I wrote How Can We Reduce Agricultural Pollution. This year, however, the weather is far better aligned with astronomy. Here are my top five signs that spring is […]
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March 19, 2016
“Greased Lightning” Is the Perfect Couch Dancing Song
There were two things that my teenaged friends and I ended up doing at nearly every birthday party we had: 1) play Taboo and 2) watch Grease. John Travolta’s piercing blue eyes were definitely part of the appeal. We also had clothing envy. But mostly, it was the songs, which are clearly intended to be sung-along-with into hairbrush microphones. They are also perfect for dancing. My friends and I weren’t coordinated enough to join in with most of the perfectly synchronized dance routines, but there was one we had DOWN – the iconic arm movements to “Greased Lightning.” We didn’t care about […]
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March 17, 2016
Conversations with Tech Support
Tech Support stares out the window at the lake behind the house. Tech Support: Looks like the lake re-froze over night. Me: Yup. Tech Support: I bet it’s thin enough that the canoe could double as an icebreaker. Me: *about to scoff, reconsiders* …that could be fun. We didn’t end up doing it, because we’d pulled the dock out for the winter and couldn’t figure out how to safely launch said canoe. And then the lake melted again. I’m still a little sad about the missed opportunity. What are you up to this Thursday?
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March 14, 2016
The Cruel, Cruel Joke That Is Daylight Savings Time
I hate Daylight Savings Time. Hate it. My mental functioning is very tightly linked to sunlight. I want naps on rainy days, and the darkness of winter is a terrible trial for me. That’s why I celebrate Winter Solstice as much as I celebrate Christmas, and why living in Yellowknife for three years made puberty even more painful than it is for most kids – between October and January, I’d go to school in the dark and come home in the dark. That’s a long, long time for a sleepy, cranky, teenager not to see the sun. Hence my hate for […]
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March 12, 2016
Momalicious Musical Marathon
Musicals are one of my favourite forms of fantasy. After all, stopping in the middle of a gang fight for a spontaneous, perfectly synchronized dance number would be crazy in real life, but in West Side Story, it makes total sense. The real world could use more spontaneous dance numbers, if you ask me. Musicals were some of my mom’s favourite movies, too. This week was both the 7th anniversary of her death, and what would have been her 63rd birthday. It’s always a difficult week for me, but this year was worse. Tech Support and I both received some […]
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March 7, 2016
Animals Have Culture, Too
Behaviour is what you do, culture is how you do it. This is totally obvious in human cultures, which have rules and guidelines for every behaviour – from table manners to what we wear to how we greet each other. But in the last few decades, scientists have begun to realize that animals have culture, too. And we’re not just talking about primates. A recent National Geographic’s Weird Animal Question of the Week deals with accents and dialects in animal communication. One of their examples is wild canines, whose howls are not only distinctive between species – grey wolves and coyotes […]
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March 5, 2016
Fantastic Beasts to Be a Trilogy!
I am super excited about this, because any excuse to spend more time in the Harry Potter Universe works for me. I can’t wait to see how they take a bestiary and turn it into a story. November is very, very, far away. Until then, join me in basking in the trailer!
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March 3, 2016
What Ghostbusters and Ink Master Have In Common
They are letting the ladies kick some butt. Ink Master, if you’re not familiar, is a reality show tattooing competition that, while full of crude language and characters most discretely described as “colourful,” also provides some pretty fascinating insights into a very high-stakes form of art. I am absurdly addicted to it.* Ink Master recently ran a special in which four of their previous female competitors battled it out for the top spot, and while we could probably have a lengthy debate over the fact that women shouldn’t need their own episode and should be allowed to go head-to-head against men (which […]
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February 29, 2016
The Best Thing About Leap Day
There are a lot of reasons to like Leap Day. It helps February feel less absurdly short. It inspired a cool Irish tradition and an adorable romantic comedy flick of the same name. It means that people born that day get to pretend they are only 1/4 as old as they actually are. But for me, the best part about Leap Day is the reminder that the universe isn’t perfect, and sometimes we just have to work with it. Hmm. Now that I type that out, it doesn’t seem that inspiring. But let’s think about it a bit. If humans […]
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February 25, 2016
New York Shenanigans, Part II
Well, I’m back from my conference and nearly caught up. It seems to take two days for every day you’re away to re-establish a steady state. I’m sure there are mathematical equations involved, but quite frankly, I’m still too tired to think that hard. Here’s what I got up to in New York, both at and around the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Conference. Thursday Ugh. Who decided that a 6AM flight was a good idea? Oh right, I did. Because I wanted maximum tourist time the day before the event. A little extra time turned out to […]
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