Subbing
At L Elementary School, someone in the office mentioned "book fair set up today," and I had happy thoughts of contact paper-covered cardboard enclosing hand-written kid stories. It turned out to be that the fine people of Scholastic Books actually set up shop in the library for a week. The kids can buy books on manga and anime drawing, or from a series called "Judy Moody." The first and second graders did not sit and listen well for story time, but the kindergarteners enjoyed being read to, and even offered hugs as thanks.


Reading
In his New Yorker review of a book on the media, Nicholas Lemann writes of the "commercialization and concentration of [media] power": Clear Channel Communications has 1200 radio stations; a newspaper conglomerate probably owns your hometown paper; TV networks own the local TV stations, and "now that there's no government pressure [on them] to offer a diversity of political opinion and civic-minded programming, they have stopped doing so."

Except for the news and channel 8's occasional forays into programs like "Virginia College Football This Year," I cannot think of any locally-produced network television broadcasts. I don't read my hometown paper because I find it poorly written and conservative, not because it's owned by Media General. The current radio scene annoys me too much to put into sentences: sexist, juvenile morning shows that aren't even local bozos any longer; "oldies" stations that use playlists as if they were top 40 stations -- if it's 3:00, I should hear "Crocodile Rock" from two spots on the dial; the loss of WXGI's old time country format; the wanderings of Floyd Henderson and his bag of true oldies.


I have also been reading about cicadas, and have to admit it was the item in "Parade" that finally set me straight: despite the fact that the range of the 17-year cicada has been described as "the Mid Atlantic states" and "through the Carolinas," we won't get them in Capital City. "Parade" printed a map that clearly shows that central Virginia is not home to the red-eyed critters. No wonder I couldn't imagine an infestation such as "Parade" and the Washington Post describe. (There's a cicada quiz at that link! I got 6 out of 7.)


In the Sunday Post, Amy Joyce uses as a starting point for her column the Gallup Poll "Q12" that led me to leave my last career. Employees who strongly agree with the 12 statements seem to be those who are most engaged with their work: the happy, productive workers. When I realized that I said "no" to most, I knew it was time to get out. The statements include:
- I know what is expected of me at work.
- I have received recognition for doing good work in the last seven days.
- My opinions seem to count.
(Click on the article to see the rest, in about the fifth paragraph.)


Capital City weather: sunny, 80s