Our Bold Adventure Continues

So what do you do when your daughter tells you she wants to be an exploding volcano for Halloween? First you give her some time to change her mind. When she doesn't, you get creative. First, I made a newsprint pattern and then tried it on the kid, cutting and adjusting as necessary. (She's being scary in the photo, like a volcano.) Then I cut out a huge piece of brown fleece. It's worth noting here that I don't sew. I cut, I glue, and I make liberal use of that fusing material that allows you to iron fabric together. Then I made shiny lava floes. Then I made a crown of flames. When she put it on she looked a lot like the Pope -- pointy red hat and all. She loved it, so I loved it. I don't know that she looked like a volcano, but I also don't know how else I could have done this without resorting to paper mache. I made the space between her arm holes too wide, so the fabric bunched in front. She didn't notice, and I wasn't about to try to fix it. I kept t...

I went to hear Ira Glass speak last weekend. Do you listen to This American Life ? You may, because it’s an insanely popular show. Every week it’s NPR’s most popular podcast download by a longshot. If Ira comes to your town, you should go hear him too -- it's a 90-minute NPR love-fest hosted by a funny guy with a keen eye on America and an unparalleled talent for putting together a compelling story. What more could you want? He opened his talk in the dark. Unexpected and funny right off the bat. Who sits in a dark theater and listens to someone talk? It’s radio, he said, you can’t see people. Voices become more powerful and expressive when you’re not caught up in the way someone looks. Radio allows people to listen to those whom they might not otherwise pay attention to – as an example, he cited some high school girl gang members with colored hair, baggy clothes, and black lipstick whose stories he once told on the air. His point made, the stage lights came up. Ira Glass is of cour...