Alright, I'm getting in right before the race is called. Gina and Krista have their essay on children's lit tomorrow and we're supposed to note our picks for children's book, noted at The Third Estate Sunday Review, so let me do mine:
Kat: My choice is one that only two people involved had heard of, The Country Bunny and The Little Gold Shoes by Du Bose Heyward, with pictures by Marjorie Hack. I loved this book, as much for the pictures as the story. The Country Bunny is a Sally Field type, plucky and feisty. She wants to be one of the Easter egg carriers. Each year, there's a contest and the fastest bunnies are selected to deliver the eggs. Although the Country Bunny is one of the fastest, she is told that it's too bad she has so many children or she could be one of the five selected. She makes an argument, which always struck me as both common sense and feminist, and she gets to be the fifth carrier. She also becomes the bravest carrier and as she attempts to deliver the final egg, "the loveliest egg," up a snow covered hill, Grandfather Bunny arrives with gold shoes that will assist her. So it's a story with feminist overtones and Country Bunny gets a snazzy pair of shoes to wear as she breaks through the glass ceiling, what's not to love?
As C.I. noted Sunday, Du Bose Heyward, who wrote the text, also wrote, with Ira Gershwin, the lyrics to "Summertime." (George Gershwin wrote the music.) I wish I'd known that. I really do love The Country Bunny and The Little Golden Shoes. If you've got children, hunt down the book. If you don't, check it out for yourself.
If you missed it, ABC lied and C.I. and Ava caught them. ABC has rewritten what Colin Powell said when asked about his lying in his United Nations performance. Ava and C.I. had already reviewed the performance at ("TV Review: Barbara and Colin remake The Way We Were") and you can read their entries on it after they learned ABC had "fixed" Powell's remarks.
"ABC 'fixes' Colin Powell"
"Note from Ava on ABC's altering Colin Powell's remarks"
"Joint entry from Ava and C.I."
I'll also note that Kelefa had some strong writing in the New York Times this week in her review of the Jack Johnson concert. She usually does a better job than most reporters writing about music but she did a really good job this week. I'm not a Jack Johnson fan. If I was, I might feel differently. (I like Johnson, he's not one of my favorites. Let the e-mails pour in.) But I thought she went beyond the usual, standard nonsense that passes for music reporting in that paper (Jon Paralyze -- because he paralyzes anyone's interest in music with his deathless prose).
Lastly, Cedric phoned me about Rebecca. I wish she'd taken at least another week because returning when John Roberts is the big talk and being in a position where she can't explain about her own abortion has to be very hard on her. But she's bouncing back and she's going to be fine.
