“…Working in a beauty shop takes years and years of practice.”
    “Yeah, only I already know that,” I said.
    “Years and years and years,” said Daddy.
    I did a huffy breath at him. “I already know that, I told you,” I said again.
    After that, I leaned back in my seat. And I thinked about the years and years of practice.
    Finally, I did a big sigh.
    I would have to get started right away.
                         from Junie B. Jones Is a Beauty Shop Guy
                                             written by Barbara Park
                                         illustrated by Denise Brunkus
                    Random House Books for Young Readers, 1998
                                           accessed on Libby 9/29/22

    Mom combed my hair every morning and tied it up in one long braid that reached below my waist. I was not a tall child, but still. Putting in the braid was the easy part. All I had to do was sit still and I’ve always been pretty good at that. It was much harder to sit still when Mom was taking my braid out. In those olden days, coated rubber bands had not yet been invented. I know she didn’t mean to yank out all those single strands of hair. They couldn’t help but get caught. 
    When I was about six and a half, my mom and I decided we would ask our neighbor to cut my hair. I was ready to say goodbye to the ouchies.
    Mrs. Osika helped me up to her twirly chair. I faced myself in a big mirror, but I didn’t really want to look. “Ready?” she asked before she whacked off my long braid with her big scissors. I probably nodded. After, a rubber band held each end, and I kept that braid in my bottom dresser drawer for many, many years. 
    I wish I could have donated it to a child who needed a wig. (See Locks of Love, if you’re interested.) My older granddaughter did that a couple of years ago. She donated the 12 inch minimum and looked really cute with her new not-too-short style. Mrs. Osika, on the other hand, permed what was left of my hair. The kids at school laughed at me after they got over their shock and called me Curly for a couple of weeks. I was embarrassed, but lived to tell the tale.
    Hair has been important throughout history. Beginning with the Bible story of Samson, long, uncut hair symbolized not only physical strength, but strength of character. Many modern cultures, from the Sikhs to much of Native American culture, still prohibit cutting one’s hair. Whether described as gift from Gd or a sign of community identity, hair is viewed as sacred.
    Styles have varied throughout the ages. Ancient Greek sculptures depict gods with long hair, a symbol of their power. In the Middle Ages, long hair was a symbol of wealth. From the Germanic Goths to the Gaelic Irish, people prided themselves in their long hair. Shorter hair often identified a person as lower class. 
    By the late 1500s, syphilis had been raging throughout Europe for several years. Since long, thick hair was a status symbol for men and the disease could cause hair loss, many who recovered chose to don a wig. In time, wigs became status symbols of their own. Even today, British judges wear wigs as a sign of formality and to continue a tradition.
    Portraits of classical musicians are often depicted in long hair, or wigs. Think of Scarlatti (1600s Italy), Mozart (1700s Austria), and Beethoven (late 1700s to early 1800 Germany). While Beethoven is not shown in a wig, he let his hair grow long. MerriamWebster.com defines a “long hair” as an impractical intellectual, a person of artistic gifts or interests, especially a lover of classical music, or a counter-cultural, non-violent person. 
    When I was in high school, boys’ hair had to be above their shirt collars. Girls had no such restrictions, but when the dress code became more relaxed, both boys and girls let their hair grow. As an outward expression of a growing counter-culture and encouraged by the musicians of my day from The Beatles to Bob Marley and Willie Nelson to Jimi Hendrix, long hairs were not tied to a specific genre. They introduced an era. An important counter-culture, a movement had started. During those explosive days of the Vietnam War, growing political strife, and violent street riots, the most courageous of us worked for change brought by “good trouble.” 
    When the rock-musical Hair opened on Broadway in 1968, it played along side among others, Fiddler on the Roof. With its emphasis on “Tradition!” Fiddler can be seen as the opposite of Hair, where the focus is on change. But really, both stories are showing their audiences, us, that while change is necessary, it is the way the world works, it is often painful. 
    The painful nature of change is most clearly seen in today’s Iran. Since 1979, when the Guidance Patrol was established after the revolution that deposed the Shah, women have been forced to cover their hair with a hijab. Commonly called the morality police, these officers are charged with enforcing the religious moral code of extreme Islam. 
    The world watched when a 22-year-old woman was arrested for wearing her head scarf too loosely. The world protested when she died in custody. Protests continue. 
    While laws and definitions of morality can hold a society together, the strong-armed dominance of a minority over a like-minded majority can encourage, maybe even incite revolution.
                            -—be curious! (and embrace good change)

Cody loved all animals, big and small. But she had a special, tender place in her heart for ants. They were so serious! They worked so hard!
from Cody and the Fountain of Happiness
                                                  by Tricia Springstubb
                                            illustrated by Eliza Wheeler
                                                Candlewick Press, 2015

    One day, several years ago, I went to the small park near my house and sat at the base of a favorite tree to think and wonder. My thoughts must have wandered into existential territory as I watched an ant crawl onto a fallen leaf. What universal plan would I upset if I moved the leaf with the ant on it? Would it survive in a new environment? Would it know where it was? How to get food? Would my ant recognize anyone in its new environment?
    I decided it was time to go home.
    But I continued thinking about how much influence any of us has over our surroundings. Well, we can keep our footprints small by avoiding plastic and understanding that when we throw something away, it just gets put somewhere else. We can consume less and re-use more. We can be informed voters. 
    How all beings are connected and how everything in our complicated world is necessary, to a greater or lesser extent, gnaws at my imagination and taps for my attention.
    I know about worms and how they aerate soil and how their droppings are excellent natural fertilizer. But what about those ants? Like worms, lots of them live under the ground. Are they also useful, like worms are?
    The study of ants is called myrmecology. It is well known that ants, like bees live in intricate social systems. A colony can have several fertile females (queens), but it behooves their social order to have fewer rather than more. Worker ants, like worker bees, are all female. They tend the young, forage for food, and defend the colony. Male ants mate with the queen, then, their usefulness complete, they die. The queens continue to lay eggs.
    Ants have lived on earth for over 80 million years. They escaped the great extinction that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. A new study reported by CNN  last week, estimates about 20 quadrillion individual ants are living on our earth at any moment in time. I can’t imagine a number that large, but it must be around a gajillion. Maybe 20,000 trillion is easier to understand, but for me, that’s still about a gajillion. Even entomologists were surprised at the huge number of ants. Etymologists may have been surprised, too, but for very different reasons.
    Scientists examined 489 studies that spanned every continent on earth and discovered that ants are found all over the world, but are more prevalent in the tropics than in colder regions.             
    Ants are beneficial for all the reasons you already know. They turn and aerate the soil as efficiently as earthworms, ensuring plant roots get the air and water they need. Ants often take seeds into their tunnels for food, and some seeds inevitably sprout, encouraging plant dispersion. Ants serve as both predators and prey. Many ants feed on termites. Some like the juicy honeydew aphids produce. And ants are food for other insects, birds, and carnivorous plants like pitcher plants.
    Eating insects, entomophagy, is uncommon here in the US and in most parts of the West, but it is estimated that two billion of the eight billion people on earth are entomophagists, insect eaters. People in Asia, Africa, and Latin America depend on insects for an important protein source. Beetles, caterpillars, bees, wasps, and ants are an important part of their diet. Some of the most popular types of edible ants are leaf-cutting, weaver, honey, and black ants. 
    Larvae and adult ants are prepared by roasting, frying, and boiling. They are common ingredients in recipes and as a condiment. While their nutritional value varies depending on species, metamorphical stage, and preparation methods, ants are high in protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Their low environmental impact combined with their high protein value make ants a viable component to finding a solution for world hunger. 
    More human studies are needed to determine exact nutritional values, but in general, ants, with only a few exceptions, are safe to eat and are environmentally friendly.
    Besides their ecological and nutritional benefits, ants are useful to networking engineers who study their social systems to create their own more efficient and sophisticated networking systems. 
    Then there’s the industriousness of ants. They’ve been a model for good behavior in story and song from Aesop’s “Grasshopper and the Ant” to Frank Sinatra’s “High Hopes.”
    I don’t know what happened to the ant I displaced that day so many years ago. I like to think that it had the symbolic effect of proving resilience, adaptability, and perseverance. 
                                       
                                          -—be curious! (and industrious)    

    “Come along, Paddington. We’ll take you home, and you can have a nice, hot bath. Then you can tell me all about South America. I’m sure you must have had lots of wonderful adventures.”
    “I have,” said Paddington earnestly. “Lots. Things are always happening to me. I’m that sort of bear.”
                                      from A Bear Called Paddington
                                              written by Michael Bond
                                       illustrations by Peggy Fortnum
                                                 Houghton Mifflin, 1958

    We all have our favorite childhood toys. Some feel more real than others. I named my favorite doll Rosebud. Her face was beautiful—-rosy cheeks, a perpetual smile, and blue eyes that closed when she lay down. She wore a filmy pink dress that came down to her pudgy knees. She wore undies, too. I shaped her hair into a handle, perfect for hauling her around.
    Rosebud always agreed or disagreed with me by nodding or shaking her head, and after many years of togetherness, she started showing her age. Her head was getting pretty loose on her neck. The fiber of her body was starting to let go of her plastic head. 
    When it became clear that Rosebud’s life (head) was literally hanging by a thread, my grandmother came to the rescue. She told me she knew someone at a doll hospital who could fix Rosebud up good as new, and I trusted Rosebud to my grandmother’s care. 
    Two weeks went by and Rosebud was still at the hospital. I asked and asked for her. Finally, I think my grandmother gave up hoping I’d forget about her and she returned Rosebud, not good as new, but same as she was. The hospital couldn’t help after all.
    Part of me wanted to keep Rosebud, but I knew deep down that I had outlived her. I found an old shoe box and carefully tucked Rosebud in with tissue paper and covered her up. I got my brother to dig a hole in the backyard where we buried our fish and turtles. We gave Rosebud a few moments of silence and then we moved on.
    Another of our favorites were The Halsam Toy Company’s American Plastic Bricks, the forerunner to LEGO’s. (Here's a fascinating history of the company.) My brother and I had scads and of them stored in empty five-pound Chock-Full-a-Nuts coffee cans. We spent hours and hours building houses, factories, and castles with them.
    Toys are really tools for children. They teach, foster imaginative and creative play, and encourage social interactions with friends, siblings, and grown-ups. The Strong Museum in Rochester, New York, is the location of the National Toy Hall of Fame. It “houses the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of historical materials related to play.” 
    Margaret Woodbury Strong was born into a wealthy family. She collected all sorts of items in a little bag she carried as her parents showed her the world. She “played with dolls in a Japanese teahouse, rode an elephant in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), and toured the waterfronts of Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Canton.” (from: Museum of Play) 
    By the 1960s, when Margaret was in her late 60s, she had collected over 27,000 items and organized them into over 50 categories. Most were related to children’s play.
    She added two wings to her home to accommodate her staggering (and growing) collection. She thought of this part of her home as a museum and in 1968, she received a provisional charter from New York for the “Margaret Woodbury Strong Museum of Fascination.” She had willed her collections and most of her money to fund and maintain the museum. Thirteen years after her death a year later (1969), the Strong Museum was opened to the public in downtown Rochester, New York.
    The Strong serves a global audience on site, on-line, and through its International Center for the History of Electronic Games, the National Toy Hall of Fame, the World Video Game Hall of Fame, the Brian Sutton-Smith Library and Archives of Play, the Woodbury School, and the American Journal of Play. 
    The National Toy Hall of Fame is gathering experts to evaluate this year’s new inductees. You can join me in voting for this year’s Player’s Choice award. View all the nominees here.  Find the ballot and vote here,  but do it today! Voting closes at midnight tomorrow, September 21. Winners will be revealed Thursday, November 10, 2022.
    If your favorite toy is not part of the collection yet, you can nominate a toy to be considered for the November 2023 induction. Here are the selection criteria and nomination form.
                                              -—be curious! (and play!)

   I was glad to have my own copy, but I couldn’t help thinking about that book that wasn’t on the library shelves anymore, and how I would never have known From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler was my favorite book if I hadn’t found it there in the first place.
                                                  from Ban This Book 
                                                          by Alan Gratz
                          Tom Doherty Associates/Starscape, 2017

    Intellectual Freedom is established in the Bill of Rights. A person’s right to search for and find information on any topic of interest gleaned from a variety of sources and viewpoints is encompassed in the First Amendment’s freedom of expression clause.
    After all, how can we make informed decisions if we can’t learn and discuss all sides of current social issues? How can we decide the fairness of our laws and judicial system if we don’t read widely and listen to different opinions? How can we distinguish facts from opinions?
    One of the main purposes of reading fiction, especially, is to learn about life. What is expected, what is surprising? What “rings true,” what is far-fetched? Isn’t it safer and more practical to expect our kids to be able to reason out a problem when they can vicariously identify with the experiences of sympathetic main characters, well-drawn settings, and conceivable plots? When they can imagine themselves in a difficult situation and see what happens when a character makes a bad decision?
    Remember The Scarlet Letter? Just in case, here it is in a nutshell. Hester Prynn and Reverend Dimmsdale had a child out of wedlock. She paid the extreme cost of public humiliation, emotional distress, and social isolation. He was consumed by guilt. Hester’s husband who everyone thought was lost at sea, returned to hide behind a false identity and was determined to win revenge.  
    When I taught 11th-grade English for a short while, a long time ago, I introduced The Scarlet Letter to my students. While Nathaniel Hawthorne’s own lifetime, pre-Civil War America, was hard for them to imagine, so was his historical setting, 1640s Puritan Massachusetts, two hundred years earlier. But the story was as timely as ever. It still is. 
    The Scarlet Letter was banned shortly after it was published then enjoyed a pretty quiet century or so becoming a classic. In 1961, some parents in Michigan called it “pornographic and obscene.” Their request to have the book removed from the curriculum was denied, but the book continues to be challenged.
    I say this: If you were 16 again, wouldn’t all the public humiliation, emotional distress, social isolation, and guilt make you think twice about consequences? 
    With very few exceptions, material published for an adult audience is mostly left alone.             
    But materials, especially books, fiction and non-fiction, for children is more rigorously considered. Whether it is an author, editor, purchasing agent for a bookstore, or even a librarian who chooses to “self-censor,” a “well-meaning” school-board member, principal, or community activist who wants to “protect” children from the realities of growing up, or a teacher who chooses to stay “non-controversial,” most children’s reading is at least somewhat restricted. 
    In 1939, the American Library Association adopted the Library Bill of Rights. It’s been amended several times. The inclusion of “age” was reaffirmed on January 23, 1996. Most recently, in January, 2019, amendments were added to include programming, meeting spaces, and on-line activities of minors. 
    Article V states: A person’s right to use a library should not be denied or abridged because of origin, age, background, or views. You can access the Library Bill of Rights here,  and the 2019 amendments here. 
    Parents can and do retain the right to oversee their childrens’ activities. This can and does include what children read and have access to. 
    What we as a free and democratic society can NOT allow is for some other adult or group, well-meaning, self-serving, or over-zealously protectionist, to control what is available to all of us, and most meaningful in this current place we find ourselves, our children. No one should be able to override our own right to deem what is appropriate for our own children by saying what is appropriate for all children.
    In other words, like Amy Anne Ollinger, Alan Gratz’s main character in Ban This Book says so clearly, “…I said the same thing to all of them. It was something Mrs. Jones had said the first day Mrs. Spencer came in to challenge Captain Underpants, and I practiced it over and over until I got it right every time:
    ‘Nobody has the right to tell you what books you can and can’t read except your parents.’”
    Let’s protect our kids. But not from the real world. Not from Truth. Let’s protect them from harm by giving them the all the vicarious experiences, all the tools they need for sharp and clear imaginations, and all the courage they need to make good decisions. 
    After all, our kids are our future.
                                   -—be curious! (and read to a child)           

Necessary Gardens
       Libraries
       Are
       Necessary
       Gardens,
       Unsurpassed
       At 
       Growing 
       Excitement
                                           “Necessary Gardens” from
                                      Please Bury Me in the Library
                                          written by J. Patrick Lewis
                                           illustrated by Kyle M. Stone
                                 Harcourt, Inc./Gulliver Books, 2005
   
​    A language’s function is to make communication possible. But that’s only its practical function. We’d all be reduced to automatons if practicality was our sole reason for using language. And while lots of what we communicate is non-verbal, say eye-rolls, applause, all those angsty teenage facial expressions we all (well, mostly all) have outgrown, what we say really does matter. And like my mom always reminded me, how we say what we say is even more important.
    Sarcasm was something she often called to my attention. “Watch your tone, young lady” was usually accompanied with a disapproving non-verbal facial gesture. She meant my tone of voice, the meaning behind my words. Not all of that meaning is poetry, in the strictest sense, but some of it could be. 
    I liked poetry when I was young. I read famous poets. Robert Frost was (still is) one of my favorites. I have a large collection of his work in my own handwriting on lined notebook paper in a time-worn three-ring binder. And while I loved Paul Simon’s lyrics, Art Garfunkel stole my heart. I can still sing most of their hits. Lots of what Paul Simon wrote was poetry. His language holds an electric charge of meaning; it says more, much more than the dictionary definitions of his words.
    Understanding for the first time that written words, like spoken words, could be charged with multiple meaning was what encouraged me to write my own poetry. Most of my attempts were badly executed expressions of how hard it was for me to be a teenager. The pull to maintain the relative safety of my childhood was matched by the need to make my own decisions. I followed rules set for me by others with great resentment. And even less understanding. The bad poetry I wrote was helpful, if only a little.
    Convinced poetry is an art, not really a craft, I didn’t study it. I didn’t know how it worked until an excellent English professor in a poetry-writing class I finally took showed me how poetry makes words more powerful. I learned a lot about the technical aspects of poetry. And then practice and more practice. Metaphor, of course flew to its pinnacle of prominence. Line breaks showed me their ability to emphasize. Cadence and rhythm waltzed and rhumba-ed. And I tried my hand at list-making. 
    Like practicing anything you like, it feels fun, not at all like work.
    I also learned about poetry’s art. The importance and effectiveness of expressing emotion by choosing the precise and necessary word; when short lines make sense to a reader (and myself as the first reader) or if long lines make more sense; how to evoke a scent or sound. These are all practical aspects that can be taught and learned. 
    Practice is the only way to make the craft shine and tune its artful ear. And some people get really good. Who doesn’t remember Amanda Gorman’s inaugural speech? Her words soared. Her delivery thrust them into a gorgeous dance of excitement, hope, and encouragement. 
    Youth Poet Laureates are named through a submission process and judged by a panel of leaders of national literary and arts organizations. Through the program begun in 2017, the Youth Poet Laureate is a young activist who uses poetry to encourage others to work for social change.
    The official title of the Poet Laureate of the United States, though, is “Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry.” Before 1986, people who held the position were referred to as “Consultants in Poetry.” Originally, Consultants served as aides to the Library of Congress. They evaluated the Library’s collection and made recommendations.              
    An act of Congress in 1986 added the title “Poet Laureate” and defined the duties to include organizing local poetry readings, lectures, conferences, and outreach programs. The Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry, acts as an ambassador bringing poetry to the people. 
    Our current Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry is Ada Límon whose appointment was announced in July, 2022, by Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress. She said of Ms. Límon’s work, “Her accessible, engaging poems ground us in where we are and who we share our world with. They speak of intimate truths, of the beauty and heartbreak that is living, in ways that help us move forward.”
    Ms. Límon said of her own work, “I have been witness to poetry's immense power to reconnect us to the world, to allow us to heal, to love, to grieve, to remind us of the full spectrum of human emotion.” 
    Specific duties of the Poet Laureate are kept to a minimum. A couple of years ago when Tracey K. Smith served in the position, she started a podcast called “Slowdown.” Ada Límon is the current host, but will relinquish that position at the end of October. Find today’s broadcast (9/6/22) here.  
    When she opens the Library of Congress’s literary season reading her work in the Coolidge Auditorium, Ms. Límon begins her Laureateship. Her term will end in April.
    She has been bringing poetry to the people, though, since she published her first work in 2006. Her most recent book of poetry is The Hurting Kind. 
    If you haven’t read poetry in a while, give Ada Límon’s work a try. If you’ve never read a book of poetry, now’s a good time to start!
                -—be curious! (and keep a poem in your pocket)

    On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the Moon. Astronaut Neil Armstrong took one famous step and became the first person to set foot there. For the few hours he and Buzz Aldrin walked on its surface, people could look up at the Moon and know that someone might be looking back at them.
                     from Curiosity: The Story of a Mars Rover
                                                    by Markus Motum
                                                      Candlewick, 2017

    It’s been fifty years since Apollo 17 landed on the moon. I was still in high school. Ray Walston was “My Favorite Martian” every week on TV. Although The Tornados had fallen apart by 1965, radio stations were still playing Joe Meek’s instrumental, “Telstar” which debuted in 1962. In 1964, the Beatles came to the United States and changed music forever. It seemed like the whole world was changing.
    The 1960s was a decade of social, economic, and political change. 
    Begun in the 1950s, the US Space Program tried hard to keep up with the Soviet Union. On April 12, 1961, just three weeks before Alan Shepard was launched out of Earth’s atmosphere, Russian cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to travel into outer space. His feat inspired President John F. Kennedy to challenge the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): land a man safely on the moon, and bring him safely back home by the end of the decade. 
    Tragically, Kennedy did not live to see NASA meet his challenge. He did not hear Neil Armstrong talk about his small step or Mankind’s large one. He was not a witness, like all of us were, to the original moonwalk.
    And now after more than fifty years, we’re going back. 
    Artemis, the Greek goddess of the moon and Apollo’s twin sister, is the name chosen for this (at least) three-part mission. 
    As I write this on Monday morning, I’m tuned to NASA’s live coverage of the scheduled launch. It’s about 8:22 a.m. and the launch is scheduled for 8:33. The countdown was stalled a while ago, and as I watch, an update informs us that Engine 3 is experiencing a fueling bleed. The engine is part of the cooling system and is located on the bottom of the core stage of the rocket. Engineers are collecting data to help them discover the cause of the problem. 
    8:38 a.m. The announcement no one wanted to hear: Today’s launch is scrubbed at T-40 minutes.
    The rocket is in a stable configuration and its engineers will continue to collect data. The next available opportunity to launch Artemis I will be Friday, September 2, 2022, at 12:48 p.m., but a new plan is not in place, yet. The new plan will depend on what the test data show. The launch team will make the ultimate decision. 
    This first Artemis mission, is uncrewed. Its six-week round trip will launch from an Orion spacecraft and will collect data as it orbits the moon on its 1.3 million mile journey. Here's its projected trajectory. Orion’s return will be faster and hotter than any spacecraft has ever experienced on its way back to Earth. 
    Artemis II will be a crewed flight that will take astronauts farther into space than anyone has been before. Artemis III’s goal is to land the first woman and the first person of color on the surface of the moon by 2025. The crew will spend a week on the surface performing scientific studies.
    NASA’s ultimate goal is to make way for human exploration of Mars. “This 'Moon to Mars' plan involves building a new space station in lunar orbit and, eventually, a habitable Moon base.” (Royal Museums Greenwich) 
    The whole Artemis program is a NASA-led multi-year, multi-national cooperative venture between private companies and government entities.
    Several reasons call scientists, engineers, and regular folks like me (and maybe you) to continue our exploration in space.
    Technology developed to explore the moon and outer space has helped us innovate medical breakthroughs like insulin pumps, convenience items like freeze-dried food, and miraculous-seeming hand-held computers. By studying the lunar surface, we Earthlings can learn about the formation of our solar system. Traveling to the moon and beyond paves the way (in a figurative sense!) to exploring other planets. Reaching Mars is a goal of the Artemis program. Finally, we are all, especially the next generation, inspired and awed by the vastness of space and our ability to explore this fantastic frontier.    
    And isn’t our next generation who we’re all counting on? And haven’t we always counted on them?
                           -—be curious! (and embrace the future) 

And there I was
At the good old dump!
With bags of rags,
And old tin cans.
And mops and mats,
And pots and pans.
And jacks and tires,
And sacks and wires.
And cots and springs --
And lots
And LOTS 
Of things 
With STRINGS!
                                           from A Big Ball of String
                           written and illustrated by Marion Holland
                               Beginner Books/Random House, 1958
    I’ve eaten lunch many places including the park with friends, at restaurants (formal and informal) baby showers, wedding showers, backyards, and homes, mine (and others’). But last Friday was a first for me. 
    The Carbon Limestone Landfill, about a 40 minute drive from my house, was holding their annual open house. A new friend invited me to attend, and lunch was included. She warned me that food would be served on Styrofoam, and plastic, non-recyclable utensils would be on hand. She suggested I bring my own. I did. And I brought my own lunch, too.
    Two kinds of sandwiches, a variety of chips in single serving throw-away pouches, and pasta salad was lunch. Donuts and cookies were served up for dessert. As people finished eating, all table service was discarded, but after all, we were at the dump!
    Tram rides departed every 90 minutes or so for the tour, but before we climb aboard, here’s a little update on recycling in Mahoning County, Ohio. All properly recycled material stays OUT of the dump, and that’s a very good thing.
DO RECYCLE 
    paper, not shredded
    cardboard cartons, *NOT corrugated
    metal cans, empty and rinse
    plastic bottles, jugs, and jars: GLASS or PLASTIC, empty and rinse DISCARD caps
    THAT’S IT    
    *corrugated cardboard can be dropped off at a recycling site
    Here's the best information. (Check with your local county government website if you live somewhere other than Mahoning County, Ohio.)
    Our county provides curbside recycling. It’s free for residents. More about that in a couple of minutes.
    Recycling is picked up using a single-stream system. That means everything in my recycle bin goes into the same garbage-truck hopper. All my stuff and all my neighbors’ stuff is hauled to the recycling center and loaded onto a conveyer belt where it is sorted. First the metal cans are mechanically removed, then human pickers wearing gloves and masks sort through the rest. What can be sold is removed. What is left on the conveyer slips down a chute and is bundled and hauled away to the landfill. 
    Real people sort through what we put in our recycle bins. Let’s make sure it’s clean and safe, not sharp, like broken glass.
    Now for the tram ride and tour of the 340 acre Carbon Limestone Landfill.
    Our tour guide is in charge of daily operations and told us everything we wanted to know. Starting at the beginning, we saw flatbeds and large dump trucks from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont, and other states along the Eastern Seaboard weighing in. Some had arrived as early as 1:00 a.m. and waited until they could unload between 4:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. From 3:00 p.m. to about 4:30 local trucks enter and unload. All trucks are monitored for radioactive waste. Local and long-haulers are weighed before and after they are emptied. They’re hosed down before they leave the facility. Between 30 and 50 long haulers unload every day. In-state and out-of-state, the landfill handles between five and six TONS of trash/garbage every single day. The fees the long-haulers pay to The Carbon Limestone Landfill in Lowellville, Ohio, pay for our county recycling program.
    After the garbage is dumped, it’s covered with layers of dirt and grassed over. As the garbage begins to decompose, it produces methane and other gasses. In a system of 200 methane extraction wells, a pressure vacuum collects the gas. The landfill gas is refined from 50% methane and 50% other gasses to 97% pure methane. It is sent to end-use facilities then distributed. The landfill produces enough electricity to power 15,000 homes per day. 
    Mining began in the original limestone quarry in the 1960s. By 1992, all the extractable limestone had been removed. The landfill began in the hole left by the quarry after the exposed land was sealed. Before the solid municipal waste (SMW) is dumped, it must be compacted to take up the least amount of space possible. A compactor reduces the SMW to 1,800 lbs/cubic yard.
    Like the gas that is piped and processed into usable methane, liquid is also piped out of the landfill. It is also treated until it is pure enough to be sent to a nearby water treatment plant where it is further refined into drinking water. 
​    The remaining liquids have to be solidified before they are buried. This is accomplished by using rejected paper pulp from a West Virginia pulp mill to suck up the extra moisture, like we’re instructed to do with kitty litter before we dispose unused paint.
    The best estimates state the site will remain active for about 36 years. For a garbage dump, the site is deceptively clean. Grass grows on the hillside, which is the 3rd highest point in the whole state of Ohio. Permits could be obtained to go higher, but like our guide said, what dump wants to be known as the highest point in the state?
    Phase I is closed. Phases II and III are active now, and Phase IV, an additional 8-1/2 acres, is under construction. Each night the new excavation is covered with soil and tarps.
    Along the ride, I did not see any wildlife except for a flock of gulls. While it is difficult to tell the difference between gulls and seagulls, gulls are land birds. They can’t perch, so they’re attracted to large, flat areas: parking lots and landfills. They tend to feed, roost, and nest in groups. Landfills provide an attractive food source, so since we’ve built it, here they come. And here they stay.  
    Guess I wasn’t the only one eating lunch at the landfill!
                                 Be curious! (and recycle with care)       

A is for Zoo.
Why? 
Because Animals live in the Zoo.
    .          .          .
Z is for Animals.
Why?
Because Animals live in the Zoo.
                                                 from Q is for Duck
                                               written by Mary Elting
                                             illustrated by Jack Kent
                                                 HoughtonMifflin, 1980
                                     (accessed on YouTube 8/13/22)
    When I was growing up, we were not allowed to have a pet with fur, so the only animals I saw close up were red-eared sliders (those little turtles we bought at the dime store with our allowance) and goldfish that we got the same way. I don’t remember any of my friends having pets. 
    When I got older, I babysat for a family with a really, really big dog. But, he was a dog nevertheless. A few years later, a different family had a cat, and surprise of all surprises! Mom let us adopt him for our own when the dad found out he was allergic to cats. Princey was the first of many cats my family shared our home with. But that’s it. Cats, turtles, and goldfish.
    At school, we studied about wild animals, jungle animals, and animals that lived in the sea. I grew up close enough to the Cleveland Zoo (now the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo) that we’d go there on field trips. I used to love to go to the zoo. The animals were exotic and exciting. Majestic elephants picked up peanuts with their finger-like trunk tips. Two-story-tall giraffes grazed gracefully on tree-tops. Lions, and tigers, and bears (oh! my!) were especially scary, but in those days they lived in cages behind strong bars. And the monkeys played like they had not a care in the world. They romped up one side and down the other of the mountain in their enclosure, Monkey Island, and were surrounded by playful seals who would sometimes balance a ball on the end of their snouts. 
    The gorillas and other big apes were a different story.
    Proponents of zoos have strong arguments. Zoo research is important to many aspects of science. The most common area of research focuses on learning about animal welfare and habits. Other studies consider habitat conservation, especially for animals being readied for return to a natural environment. Ecology research addresses species-specific conservation problems and the preservation of ecosystem health and biodiversity. Scientists study how animals interact with their environment, with each other, and with the humans who care for them.
    Many diseases can pass directly from animals to humans. In 1999, when crows at the Bronx Zoo in New York were dying of a suspected outbreak of encephalitis, a scientist at the zoo discovered the cause was really an emerging disease, West Nile Virus. A vaccine was developed for horses, where the infection can be fatal. There is no human vaccine, but if contracted, symptoms are almost always mild.
    Zoos can save species from extinction. ProCon.org, owned by the Britannica Group, lists Corroboree frogs, eastern bongos, regent honeyeaters (a critically endangered Australian bird), Panamanian golden frogs, Bellinger River snapping turtles, golden lion tamarins, and Amur leopards, among others, that have been saved from extinction by zoos. Zoos can help animals in danger from climate change and habitat loss. In 1960, Przewalski’s horses were declared extinct in the wild. Only 12 lived in zoos. Through a cooperative breeding program, several zoos have worked together to increase the number to 2,400 horses and in 1992, 16 were released into the wild. Now 800 are living wild.
    We humans understand best what we experience. Watching animal shows on TV, even PBS documentaries, do not get us close enough to ignite our sensibilities. A 2014 study has shown that people who have visited a zoo, though, know more about biodiversity and increase their actions to protect particular animals, habitats, or nature in general. People tend to protect what they love. Visiting animals where they live is a good way to learn about them.
    An Eastern Black Rhino was born in the Cleveland Zoo this year. Last year an orangutan, a gorilla, and a koala were born, and in 2019, a baby giraffe. All are doing well. All over the country and all over the world, endangered animals are born in zoos. I want to believe that all are well taken care of.
    Every year more people visit zoos than attend games of the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB combined. But the same ProCon article presents a stirring argument against zoos. A different study claims no significant difference in knowledge-gain or individual charitable contributions, so zoos are necessary. 
    Furthermore, it’s said that zoos contribute to poor health and early death of elephants, and gorillas, and an increase of infant mortality has been documented in polar bears. (ProCon.org)
    Animals in zoos can suffer psychologically, too. According to the same article, many leopards are clinically depressed. Bears exhibit symptoms of Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder (OCD), and giraffes have been diagnosed with anxiety. Chimpanzees can develop abnormal behaviors that could be caused by mental health issues.
    So taken all together, a deep study of the source articles for these summary facts is necessary. (The source notes are appended in the ProCon article I reference.)
    I want to believe that zoos are good places for people to learn about all kinds of animals, that animals are studied kindly, and important learning encourages people to donate time and resources for saving so many animals from extinction. More information is available than I can digest. 
    I think I know how I feel about zoos. Then I see the gorilla baby and find his mom. I gaze into her eyes, and I’m sure she knows so much more than she can say. 
                                                -—Be curious! (and kind)

    Cats here, cats there,
cats and kittens everywhere
    Hundreds of cats
    Thousands of cats
Millions and billions and trillions of cats
                                                 from Millions of Cats
                               written and illustrated by Wanda Gág
                                                   Puffin Books, 1956
    Although I like to paint my world in rainbows and shades of gray, sometimes I think in opposites. Common ones like 
    all/none
    large/small 
    feast/famine 
    loud/quiet
and some that are not so usual like
    grow/stagnate
    dearth/plethora
    banal/creative
    detritus/treasures. (This is my favorite category.)
Some words have more than one opposite like
    right/left and right/wrong 
    fast/slow and fast/temporary    
    hard/easy and hard/soft. 
Some words are contronyms, words with two meanings that contradict one another. They are their own opposite, like
    cleave (to hew apart) and cleave (to hold tight)
    trim (to add, decorate) and trim (to subtract, cut away)
    
    The obvious one-word opposite of “opposite” is “same,” which sums up our world neatly in black and white (which are only opposites when we consider the color spectrum). 
    English is a difficult language to learn. It is subtle, complex, and nuanced. The 20-volume second edition set of the Oxford English Dictionary (1989) contains 171,476 entries, but usage, grammar, and clarity are elusive for many of us. We can define a word, but might have trouble with its pronunciation. The opposite is also true. My daughter opined as she was working on a Wordle puzzle a couple of weeks ago, “just because you can pronounce it, doesn’t mean it’s a word.”
    Lots of words have opposites, but many of them don’t. Flower? Bird? Song? Brick? Ocean? I was thinking in this vein during a recent walk. Our nearby county fairgrounds was hosting the American Kennel Club’s dog show. I observed. Some dogs are huge, some are tiny. I learned. Some are workers like bloodhounds and sheepdogs. Some, like Pekinese and Cavalier King Charles Spaniels are lapdogs. They live to entertain and comfort their owners. I listened. Some barked their poor, fool heads off. Some were quiet as cumulus clouds in the bright blue sky.
    It’s true that some people are dog people and some prefer cats. But cats and dogs are not themselves, opposites. Besides the obvious physical characteristics: whiskers or not; tongues (smooth and slobbery or rough and dry-ish); claws (clobbery or click-clacky), dogs and cats provide companionship. They keep us from talking to ourselves, or they let us pretend about that. They don’t judge us. Their love is unconditional, whether they show it with exuberance or a quiet lap-sit. And, with a little patience and attention, we humans can understand the needs, distress, and joy they communicate to us. 
    I’ve never known a cat to demonstrate unconditional love by slobbering all over me after jumping on me and knocking me down. I had a cat though, who would softly tap my cheek each morning, a gentle reminder to get his breakfast ready.
    Then there’s the “let’s go for a walk” difference. With the exception of two different cats who lived many years apart, my cats have been content to stay home. They do their business where they are supposed to (mostly) and I thank them for that. I like a destination when I walk. Most dogs are not welcome in the library, post office, bank, or grocery store. So that part works out well, too. My cat gets to stay home and I get to go where I want to.
    My preferences make me a cat person. I recognize and admire independence (albeit limited), a calm, unassuming demeanor, and a penchant for naptime. I would choose golf over football, a sailboat over a power boat, and meaningful ballads over raucous hip-hop.
    I like crossword puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, and board games. I like reading to discover something old, something new, or some different perspective. I like quiet over chaos. 
    I found an interesting graphic that shows the results of a survey done by the scientists at www.NationalToday.com Turns out that when 1,000 people answered the question: Are you a dog person or a cat person, 14.2% answered cat person and 42.8% said dog person. Lots of people claimed to be both, but really? I don’t think so.
    And just as dogs are not opposite to cats, dog people are not opposite to cat people, either. Like cats and dogs, people come in different colors, genders, and temperaments. Cats and dogs, just like us, need to be nurtured, accepted, and encouraged. 
    And loved, unconditionally. 
    
                              Be curious! (and love unconditionally)

“…lots of preservatives can be found in our kitchen. What do you think you should look at?”
    “Hmmm. Preservatives make things last a lot longer. So food that lasts a long time?”
    Mom nodded. “You’re on the right track, kiddo. See if you can figure out what the preservatives might be by looking at the stickers with the printed ingredient lists.”
    “To the kitchen, Sassafras!” I announced. “We’re going on a preservative hunt!”
                   from Zoey and Sassafras: Monsters and Mold
                                                   story by Asia Citro
                                          pictures by Marion Lindsay
                                           The Innovation Press, 2017
                                             (read on Libby 7/24/22)
    How long does a Twinkie last? Really. That question began an over 40-year-long science experiment in a high school in Maine. The Twinkie sat on top of the chalkboard in the science lab for 20 years. In 2016, it went into a see-through case and sits on the school director’s desk.
    It doesn’t look quite as good as it did in 1976. It might not even be edible, but it’s the school’s claim to fame. The director contacted Hostess in 2016 to see if they’d take it as a donation, but I couldn’t discover if Hostess has replied, yet. By the way, Hostess is scheduled to report the results of its second quarter (ended June 30, 2022)  tomorrow, Wednesday, August 3, 2022, after market close. 
    Preservatives aside for a moment, food waste is a huge world-wide problem. Close to 1/3 of all food produced is wasted. At 30-40% here in the United States, we fall right in the middle of that average. Spoilage occurs at every stage of food production from the farm to the refrigerator. Problems can happen in planting, growing, harvesting, milling, and transporting. Equipment malfunctions can allow food to get too hot or too cold, and damage it before it is consumed. 
    Buying too much can be a problem. Choosing only the most beautiful peach or pineapple and leaving the rest often results in the grocery produce department’s contribution to waste. In 2015, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s agency on Food Loss and Waste set a goal of 50% reduction by 2030. That 50% means a reduction of waste sent to landfills down to 109.4 pounds per person per year. That still sounds like a lot to me.
    Here's the USDA’s definition of food loss and waste: the edible amount of food, postharvest, that is available for human consumption but is not consumed for any reason. It does not include moisture loss due to cooking and unlike some recycling statistics, does NOT include inedible parts of food like banana peels, egg shells, and bones.
    Food waste is the largest single category of material sent to landfills. And food in landfills produces the greenhouse gas methane. So the wasting food also wastes water and land. 
    A report from the Union of Concerned Scientists describes the growing number of innovative farmers and scientists who are moving toward sustainable farming to bring food and textiles to market in ways that are compatible with our earth. The impacts are environmental, economic and social.  
    Environmental Sustainability includes building healthy soil, managing water wisely, minimizing air and water pollution, and promoting biodiversity. 
    Economically and Socially Sustainable agriculture enables farms, large, small, and medium-sized to be profitable and contribute to their local economies. It supports the next generation of farmers and workers, promotes racial equity and justice, and creates access to healthy food for everyone. Economically and Socially Sustainable agriculture prioritizes people and communities over corporate interests.
    The new field of agroecology studies and implements how to work with nature rather than against it. Agroecology promotes the interconnectedness of environmental, economic and social factors we need to create a truly sustainable world.
    But that is them. What can we do to reduce our own food waste?

• Download the free FoodKeeper app from USDA. Type in chicken, strawberries, or pickles. Tap the “go” button and discover how long you can store your items.
• Check food safety guidelines from the FDA.
• Label and date leftovers. I started doing this at the beginning of the pandemic. I was shopping less and buying more each trip. It required a little more organization, a roll of masking tape and a sharpie, but not much time.
• If you’re interested in composting, look at the EPA’s  Composting Fact Sheet. 
• Use your senses. If something smells bad, it most likely is. Get rid of it. If something looks bad, check out the website www.eatortoss.com It includes a food index and “Use-it-Up Recipes.”
• Take “use by” and “best buy” dates with a grain of salt. 

    My box of dried bowtie pasta is stamped March 29, 2024, as its “best by” date, but I’m sure my bowties won’t dry out any more if I keep them longer. Dried beans and peas? In my book dry is dry, but the USDA recommends keeping them only one year. 
    Canned goods? According to www.foodnetwork.com “best by” is a label assigned by the manufacturer. FoodNetwork.com quotes the Can Manufacturer's Institute, “canning is a high-heat process, so it preserves food and prevents the growth of any bad organisms. Canned food is forever safe. But, it notes quality may be affected. And dented and bulging cans are NOT safe! Toss the food, recycle the can.
    Preservatives are added to processed foods to make them last longer. The FDA has the primary role in approving a particular preservative or not after rigorous and ongoing testing. For more information about the safety and controversy of food additives, check LiveStrong.com They use recent and relevant research, use experts to review their articles before they’re published. They do their own “fact checking” to assure accuracy.
    LiveStrong’s bottom line is, it’s safer to eat preservatives than risk eating foods infected by bacteria and fungi. The balance comes in the next sentence. If you want to avoid eating preservatives, eat more whole foods and fewer packaged ones.
    Reducing food waste is a noble goal. On my own small scale it won’t make a dent in the 820 million people in the world who are hungry or even the one in eight Americans who face food insecurity, but working together, each of our own small efforts is part of a very big picture.
                               -—be curious! (enjoy summer’s produce)