Category: About Me

A Life-Sized Butter Cow! Also, Me.

Last Year's Cow

Last Year’s CowSource

On Saturday I get to appear at the Illinois State Fair along with the traditional butter cow, dueling banjos, and costumed sheep! (Not at the same time or tent, but still.) Won’t you stop in and say hello?

    Saturday, August 9, 2014
    1:00-3:00pm
    Lt. Governor’s Tent

I’ll be signing copies of (and bookplates for) Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer! Also, if you stop by before 1:00, you have a chance to meet YA author Joan Bauer, who will be the featured author Saturday morning. Far out!

From the Illinois Reads flyer:

Lt. Governor Simon is encouraging you to discover Illinois authors. As an ambassador for Illinois Reads, her tent will feature books for all ages by Illinois’ exciting authors. Follow the Lt. Governor’s Facebook page to learn times for featured readings. While at the Lt. Governor’s tent, be sure to register for her daily book giveaway, pose in her free photo wall and check out the typewriter used by one of our state’s most prolific writers, U.S. Sen. Paul Simon. Do you need to first clear space on your bookshelf? Donate any new or slightly used books to her book drive.

About the cow: “The 500-pound cow is made with unsalted butter. Built from scratch each year, the butter cow has been an unofficial mascot of the fair since the 1920s.” Source: AP

What I Didn’t Know I Didn’t Know

I had fun last week being a guest poster person over on author Adi Rule’s blog, Three Tassels and a Top Hat. Have a look!

Adi Rule is the author of a most intriguing novel called Strange Sweet Song which is getting lots of attention since its release. Check it out and read an excerpt at the link.

Welles and Woodstock

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In front of the Woostock Opera House, May 2014

In front of the Woostock Opera House, May 2014

So I went to Woodstock. Not that Woodstock; I mean the village in Illinois where Orson Welles attended boarding school as a kid. He wasn’t born there, but since he had a sort of atypical upbringing biographers point to the Todd School as maybe the first stable environment he had ever experienced. He certainly made the most of his time there, and in later years Welles tended to think of Woodstock as his hometown.

What does Welles’ adopted hometown do to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the theater festival Orson co-produced so after graduating from the Todd School? A whole lot of events and exhibits! They bring in Welles experts (and I mean experts–these people knew their subject). They hold a film festival at the local historic movie house (We screened The Lady from Shanghai) and offer all kinds of other Welles/Todd School-related stuff.

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