EPA Library Openings Hit Another Political Snag

I am beginning to get the feeling that the EPA Libraries fiasco, like so many other vital services and issues that are in dire straights in our country, will not be resolved until the the cancerous Bush administration is removed or leaves office.From a July 17th Press Release by the ever so important Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) :"Even as Congress moves to reverse EPA’s library closures, the agency is now racing to cement new procedures restricting the ability of the public to locate or read technical documents in the agency’s possession. A new proposed policy circulated internally for...

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The King of the Street

A couple of months back I posted a video about New York's street booksellers. Now I bring you a 3 1/2 minute video of the king of street booksellers.His "shop" is in Chennai, India. He has been there for 60 years and I am not sure if he's ever left. "This is my business for life I know no other" he says.He goes on:"The government doesn't want to help us. Government wants people to remain ignorant. If people started to read they might vote for others so the government gives no importance to education."Now that's street smarts.

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Maurice Sendak’s First Pop-Up Book

Harry Potter isn't the only thing Scholastic is doing right. Late last year they published the first pop-up book illustrated by Maurice Sendak. Mommy! was a collaboration between Sendak, author Arthur Yorinks and the noted paper engineer Matthew Reinhart. The book's beginnings can be traced to a play written and directed by Arthur Yorinks called It's Alive for the Night Kitchen Radio Theater Company (which was founded by Yorinks and Sendak). The story is about a baby's search for his mother in a haunted house. "Unlike a traditional picture book, a pop-up book requires that a great deal more original...

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Two Grande Dames of Bookselling Hit the Stage

Update: Stephen Wells has a review of the play in the New York Times ; Two Women, Rare Books: A Small, Literate Musical. He calls it a "promising new musical being given its first breath of life at the New Jersey Repertory Company."One of the unanswered questions in his mind with the play was the sexual orientation of Rostenberg and Stern. It was clear that they were soul mates but unclear if they were lovers."It is fine if they are not lovers, but that needs to be made clear, and then certain questions need to be answered. Are they asexual?...

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