WORK

“We are what we eat,” we are told. But we are also what we do, what we think, what we read…

1. Anorexic Reader (“I can’t even pick up a book.”)

2. Perpetual Diet Reader (“I read only what I am assigned; I’d like to read some other things, but I have to stay on my diet to pass my courses.”)

3. Fast Food Reader (“I read Cliff Notes and the summaries at the ends of chapters. I never have time to sit down to a whole book.”)

4. Omnivorous Reader (I’ll read anything and everything. I read newspapers and magazines and books and cereal boxes, comics and billboards. I read T-shirts. I have been known to sit a fast food counter and read the label on a ketchup bottle.)

5. Trendy Reader (“I read only what’s in. If it isn’t being talked about by my friends, I don’t bother.”)

6. Vegetarian Reader (“I read only nutritious articles and books. I want what I read to nourish me spiritually. I wouldn’t think of reading books that had been made from animals.”)

7. Gourmet Reader (“I’m very selective about what I read. I know what makes good literature and I read only what the critics have labeled the best.”)

—Fran Claggett
—from A Measure of Success: From Assignment to Assessment in English Language Arts (Winner of the NCTE James Britton Award)

WORD(S)

malmsey (malmsie). noun. A strong, sweet, originally Greek wine, now refers to fortified wines from the Mediterranean, the Azores, the Canaries and Madeira.

“All black Wines…as Muscadine, Malmsie..Browne bastard, Metheglen, and the like.” (Robert Burton)

“His hands are splayed out over her back, moving up and down, over the shoulders and down to the splendid buttocks. Thinking of buttercups and butterflies and flying buttresses and butts of malmsey.” (Donald Barthelme)

“That chalky ellipse of land provides the finest drink in the world. Better than malmseys and other sweet nothings so many fools favor.” (Allen Kurzweil)

WEB

1. “A Brief History of Art Made with Roombas”

2. An interesting idea: in addition to buying or streaming P. Morris’s new album, you can go to his site and listen to it, but only along with someone else, via webcam (chatroulette style).

3. “How a Single Mom Created a Plastic Food-Storage Empire”—including a 5-day long gold-rush themed Tupperware Jubilee with buried treasure in the form of mink stoles, diamond rings and other goodies—and then lost it all.

4. Total Film’s list of 50 Best Book to Movie Adaptations provides plenty of food for thought (and debate). I can’t argue with One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, To Kill A Mockingbird or quite a few others.

5. Today in 1894, ►Thomas Edison films sharpshooter Annie Oakley (aka “Little Sure Shot”), which would prove to be instrumental in her hiring by Buffalo Bill for his Wild West Show and her eventual stardom.

REPRISES/RESPONSES/REJOINDERS/RIPOSTES

• Reader M. notes: “Galway Kinnell died a few days ago, but nothing in your newsletter.” — Kinnell was a big influence on me. I mean to write something longer about him, but that means starting up a/my blog or something again…and I’m lazy.

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