Thursday, June 30, 2011

Postcrossing Favorites for June

Here are this month's favorite postcards received via Postcrossing.com:
 "Pinguin im Park" by Birte Muller
from The Netherlands
Photo by Helga and Victor von Brauchitsch
from Germany
(See http://myturntodayyourstomorrow-cheryl.blogspot.com/2010/07/postcrossing.html for more information about Postcrossing.com.)

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Sticks 'n' Chicks


A few years ago, I heard about Ladies Rock Camp, which is a fund-raising off-shoot of Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls in Portland, Oregon. I signed up to attend, but a knee injury kept me home that year. Now that I'm retired, I want to try it, 'cause it sounds like so freakin' much fun! Sign-up information is below.
Think you can’t play the drums? Don’t know how to write a song? No way you could ever be able to get on stage in front of hundreds of people and play guitar, while making 30 new friends in 3 days? Yes you can!
At Ladies Rock Camp, you will learn drums, bass, keyboards, vocals or guitar, form a band, write an original song and perform at the Showcase. Join the Rock Camp community and meet women from the US and beyond! 
Party like it’s 1999 at the legendary Saturday night LRC karaoke party. Treat yourself or a special someone to a weekend of rockin’ out, havin’ fun and hangin’ out with awesome women while supporting a great cause!
21+, all levels of experience from beginner to advanced welcome!
Bring your grannie, your sis, your BFF!
Join us in a great Rock Camp tradition in raising money. Ladies Rock Campers of 2007-2010 were proud to collectively generate over $100,000 for Rock Camp for Girls!
Mayor Sam Adams and the Portland City Council will honor Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls on June 29 by presenting an official proclamation declaring it “Portland's Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls is Awesome Day!” The honor recognizes the cultural and social impact the organization has made on the local, national, and international community.
“For ten years, Portland’s Rock 'n' Roll Camp for Girls has personified what makes this city great: it’s organic, gutsy, and vanguard. Best of all, it prepares the next generation of Portlanders to carry that torch.” 
-- Mayor Sam Adams

Looking for information on programs for girls? All programs are first come, first served, so sign up now!  More information is available at: www.girlsrockcamp.org


Friday, June 10, 2011

"The Facebook Sonnet" by Sherman Alexie




Welcome to the endless high-school
Reunion. Welcome to past friends
And lovers, however kind or cruel.
Let's undervalue and unmend
The present. Why can't we pretend
Every stage of life is the same?
Let's exhume, resume, and extend
Childhood. Let's all play the games
That occupy the young. Let fame
And shame intertwine. Let one's search
For God become public domain.
Let church.com become our church.
Let's sign up, sign in, and confess
Here at the altar of loneliness.


*Reprinted from The New Yorker, May 16, 2011.
Sherman Alexie is a writer of poems and stories.
His most recently-published works are Face and War Dances.