Save The Date: Decatur Book Festival Is Coming August 29-31!

 

The 2008 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical | Home

 Many thanks to Dr. JoBeth Allen from the University of Georgia Department of Language and Literacy for the heads up on this WONDERFUL event!  I plan to be there…Billy Collins will be giving the keynote address!  Here is the latest info straight from the festival organizers via email:

It’s hard to believe, but here we are preparing to launch the THIRD annual Atlanta Journal-Constitution Decatur Book Festival Presented by DeKalb Medical. The festival has not merely survived its first few years. We’ve built on partnerships with artistic, educational, business, and governmental organizations not only from all over metropolitan Atlanta but from all over the nation. Hosted in the literary haven of Decatur, this festival has quickly joined the ranks of the largest and most talked about book festivals nationwide.
 
 Perhaps we could just keep doing what we’ve been doing and call that good enough, but where’s the fun in that? We’ve added plenty of new and unique programs to this year’s festival:
 
 We’ve had a Children’s Parade since the first year, but this is the first time we’ll be launching a new book at the parade. Not just any book: It’s the first new “Madeline” story in 50 years–”Madeline and the Cats of Rome”–written by John Bemelmans Marciano, the grandson of Ludwig Bemelmans. We encourage everyone to join Marciano in the parade, maybe wear a big yellow hat, sing your favorite French (or, for that matter, Italian) song, or just make some noise.
 
 Though we’ve had programs directed at teenagers from the beginning, 2008 marks the first year we will set aside a space exclusively for teenagers, called Escape. Escape will host best-selling authors for interactive discussions, an open mic and a literary salon. For those under 18, there will also be a quiz show called How Well Do You Know Harry? judged by Cheryl Klein, continuity editor for the last four Harry Potter books.
 
 In a historic partnership, Poets & Writers and Agnes Scott College are working with us to present the best DBF Writers Conferenceyet, with top national editors, agents, critics, publicists, authors, and screenwriters sharing their collective wisdom in a conference tightly integrated with the rest of the book festival. In addition, beginning this year, DBF will host the prestigious Southern Independent Booksellers Association (SIBA) awards ceremony. Many of the nominees will give readings at the festival.
 
 In 2006, we hosted the launch event for the first Atlanta Reads. This year, we’ll launch Atlanta Reads as well as the Big Read, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts. Atlanta’s Big Read will encourage the entire community to read and talk about F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.”
 
 Still not enough to fill your Labor Day weekend? Check out even more of the new programs that make this year’s festival truly unique:

 Brooks & Co. Dancewill perform a dance inspired by Shirley Jackson’s classic short story, “The Lottery,” set to the music of Stravinsky’s “Rites of Spring” and drawing on Ninjinsky’s seminal choreography to Stravinsky’s work.
 
 In a program called “Words from Iraq,” adult and young actors from PushPush Theater will present multiple perspectives on Iraq through readings of letters children have written to their parents in the military, blogs written by soldiers in Iraq, and a blog by a young Iraqi woman.
 
 In the spirit of the Java Monkey Local Authors Stage, we’re adding a stage for emerging authors just beginning to get their work out into the world, called the Emerging and Exhibiting Authors Stage.
 
 Author and former Olympian runner Jeff Galloway will lead a fun run Saturday morning of the festival, followed by a running clinic.
 
 Lee Smith, Marshall Chapman, Jill McCorkle, and Matraca Berg will all be onstage together to give a taste of their traveling musical–The Good ol’ Girls–about their friendship and the mutual influences of their books and music on one another.
  
 And that’s just the new stuff!
 

You know you can also count on us to bring you the nation’s top authors in our strongest, most diverse line-up yet. You know we’ve got you covered for good food and some of the best singer-songwriters in America. You know we’ll show the whole family a good time. So, come join us this Labor Day weekend for the best AJC Decatur Book Festival yet!    
   
   

 Be sure to check out our 2008 DBF web site,www.decaturbookfestival.com <http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=0010o9b8-G1lEKeg0HJ9PdUjGRNyOgyeblVgbcTsEt5PKylDahxzgliuFLJWKLt-zYIoc45cFGTjIsQlOObVGPCdF6Q_S1hyNoiVHSyZMw4GDtx6o-NqZyAj84pBZOFARsm> .

Your Help Is Needed: The Johnston Tornado Relief Fund

As many of our readers know, our community suffered incredible devastation  this past Tuesday when a tornado roared through the Johnston Elementary community off East Cherokee Drive.   This sister elementary school in the Cherokee County School District is only a few miles to our west.  Nearly one in 10 students at the school are victims of the violent storm.  While we are thankful no one was killed or seriously injured, many families suffered severe damage to their homes. 

How can you help?  Dr. Keith Ingram, principal of the school, has established the Johnston Tornado Relief Fund.  You can read more about the fund and the impact of the storm on the studnts at http://www.11alive.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=116323&catid=39 .  The school hopes to raise $5,000 in donations before the school year ends next Thursday, May 29.  The school is asking people and businesses to bring in gift cards, canned foods, boxes of food, clothing, books that they don’t need.  You can send monetary and gift cards donations to:

Johnston Elementary School
2031 East Cherokee Drive
Woodstock Ga 30188

Please indicate you read about this worthy cause on The Unquiet Library blog, the blog of the Creekview High School Media Center.  Thank you for any help you can provide!

Pulitzer Winning Author Rick Bragg To Appear at FoxTale Book Shoppe May 28

Rick Bragg, who in 1996 won the Pulitzer Prize for his feature writing at The New York Times, is scheduled to read from his new book at a book signing on May 28 at 7 p.m. at FoxTale Book Shoppe in downtown Woodstock.  Admission to the book signing is the purchase of Bragg’s new book, The Prince of Frogtown, for $24 plus tax.

To find out more, check out these links:

• http://www.foxtalebookshoppe.com/events-new.html
• http://www.ledgernews.com/cherokeeprofile.html
• http://www.ajc.com/news/content/living/stories/2008/05/25/bragg_0526.html

Severe Weather Awareness Week, Day 2: NOAA Radio

NOAA weather radio is a nationwide network of radio stations broadcasting continuous weather information direct from a nearby National Weather Service office. NOAA weather radio broadcasts National Weather Service watches, warnings, forecasts, and other hazard information 24 hours a day.

Some weather radios are equipped with a special tone feature, which can sound an alert and give you immediate information about a life threatening situation. During an emergency, the National Weather Service will interrupt routine weather radio programming and send out a special tone that activates weather radios in the warning area. Recently, a radio that can handle the Emergency Alert Signal was introduced. The Specific Area Message Encoder (SAME) tone alert can be set up to only sound for your county. This cuts down on the number of unwanted tones you receive, and alerts you only when a life threatening situation is in your county.

In Georgia, there are 23 transmitters broadcasting throughout the state. Seven frequencies are reserved for NOAA weather radio on the public service band. These frequencies range between 162.400 megahertz and 162.550 megahertz. Broadcast range is approximately 40 miles, but the effective range depends on terrain, quality of the receiver, and indoor/outdoor antennas. Before buying a receiver, make sure your area is covered by a transmitter.

Coming up tomorrow:  a timely topic….thunderstorm safety!  

Severe Weather Awareness Week, February 3-9: Day 1, Family Preparedness

Those of us who have lived in Cherokee County have many memories of severe weather events here.  Some of our worst storms have occurred in February and March in recent years.

This week marks National Severe Weather Awareness Week.  What is the purpose of this week?  According to the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, “Severe Weather Awareness Week is designed to provide information about the types of sever weather that affect Georgia and what to do in the event that severe weather occurs.”  To explore interesting statistics and historical data about severe weather in North Georgia, be sure to check out the Severe Storm Climatology Page. 

A statewide tornado drill will be held on Wednesday, February 6, 2008.  This week would be a great opportunity to review tornado drill procedures with your teachers so that you know what to do in the event of a tornado in our area while you are at school.

Today’s severe weather theme for Sunday, February 3, 2008 is Family Preparedness.  Here is advice from the National Weather Service on how to make sure you and your family are prepared for severe weather:

Families should be prepared for any type of hazard that could affect their area. The best way to do this is to develop a family disaster plan. Here are a few steps your family should consider when developing a family disaster plan:

1. Gather information about hazards.
Contact the National Weather Service office in Peachtree City, the local emergency management office, or an American Red Cross chapter in your area. Find out what type of disasters could occur and how to respond. Also, it is a good idea to learn your community’s warning signals and evacuation plans. 

2. Meet with your family to create a plan.

• Discuss the information gathered.
• Pick two places to meet: a spot outside of your home for an emergency such as a fire, and a place outside of your neighborhood in case you can’t return home.
• Choose an out-of-state friend or relative as a check-in contact for everyone to call if the family gets separated.
• Finally, discuss what to do if the family is evacuated. 

3. Implement your plan.

• Post emergency numbers by phones.
• Install safety features in your home (smoke detectors and fire extinguishers).
• Inspect your home for potential hazards (look for items that can fall or catch fire) and correct them.
• Have your family learn basic safety measures, such as how to use a fire extinguisher, and how to turn off the water, gas, and electricity in your home.
• Teach children how & when to call 911 or another emergency services number.
• Keep supplies in your home to meet your needs for at least three days.
• Assemble a disaster supplies kit with items you may need during an evacuation and store the supplies in sturdy containers. This kit should include water, food that won’t spoil, one day of clothing a blanket for each person, a first aid kit, prescription drugs, tools, batteries, a flashlight, and some extra money.
• Protect any important documents in water proof containers.

 4. Practice and maintain your plan. Quiz your family to make sure they remember meeting places, phone numbers, and safety rules. Conduct practice drills.  

Blood Drive@Circle 5 Fire Station Coming Up December 27!

The American Red Cross is desperately in need of blood this holiday season.  There will be a blood drive at the Circle 5 Fire Station in Macedonia on 10378 East Cherokee Drive for all eligible donors on Thursday, December 27 from 2:00 PM until 8:00 PM. 

The need for blood is constant!  Although the Red Cross has donor centers across the Southeast to collect blood on a daily basis, regular blood drives like this one are still the most effective way to recruit donors.   Blood drives are especially needed around holidays when inventories dip to critically low levels. 

For more information, you may call J.T. Whidby, Volunteer Chief, at 770-479-5495.  Come out and give the gift of life by donating blood!

Do You Love Animals? Chestatee Wildlife Preserve Needs Your Help!

Chestatee Wildlife Preserve is a Georgia 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and fully licensed rescue, exotic animal and wildlife preserve. The Preserve is funded through guest admission fees, corporate, and personal donations.  The preserve is experiencing a water shortage because two of the three wells have run dry; the preserve needs at least 3000 gallons a day to properly hydrate the animals in their care.  You can read more about this crisis at http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/news/article/921/ and http://www.wsbtv.com/drought/14452048/detail.html . 

If you love animals and would like to help, the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve can use any donation of water or money to buy water.  Bottled water must be sealed and new. (No refilled bottles)  The preserve also welcomes any water trucks. The preserve is located at:

Chestatee Wildlife Preserve
469 Old Dahlonega Highway
Dahlonega, Georgia 30533 

orvisit http://www.chestateewildlifepreserve.org/ for more information.

Upcoming Events at the Margaret Mitchell House: Famous Authors and Writing Classes!

Check out the exciting lineup of events at the Margaret Mitchell House and Museum and The Center for Southern Literature!

November 3rd	Donald McCaig - Rhett Butler’s People
November 4th	Lou Dobbs - Independents Day
November 5th	Jan Karon - Home to Holly Springs
November 14th	Mike Lupica - The Comeback Kid Series
November 15th	Elizabeth Musser - Searching for Eternity
November 27th	David Baldacci - Stone Cold
Through December 3rd	Adult Creative Writing Class - Fiction Shop
December 6th	Nathan McCall - Them
December 13th	Terry Kay - To Whom the Angel Spoke
January 19th	Adult Creative Writing Class - Poems on Family
January 28th - March 3rd	Adult Creative Writing Class

Many thanks to Monica Taylor, English Department teacher, for the heads-up on this exciting lineup of authors and writing classes!

Save the Date: American Indian Heritage Day

American Indian Heritage Day
Saturday, November 10, 2007
10 a.m. - 4 p.m. 

Bring a sack lunch and spend the day at the Funk Heritage Center. This event honors American’s first people. This is a free public event!  See the film The Cherokee Legacy: Trail of Tears At 10 a.m. and 1:15 p.m., this award-winning film will be shown in our theater. It chronicles the hardships endured by the Southeast American Indians in the 1830s.  Film star James Earl Jones narrates the story with emphasis on the removal of the Cherokees to Oklahoma. Learn how the Native Americans lost their land rights and were forced to move to Indian Territory in the winter of 1838-1839.  The film is shown by permission of Rich-Heape Films, Inc.  Seating is limited to 50 visitors for each showing. 

At 10 a.m. the Mountain Stewards will give an interesting presentation on their Trail Tree Project:  Are bent trees along mountain paths the living relics of a lost civilization? Check out their website at www.mountainstewards.org and come on November 10 to learn more about his project.   

At 11 a.m., Bob Andrew will give a presentation on American Indian historical sites. Travel into the past with this author and photographer as he takes you across America in search of ancient monuments and architecture.  

Visit http://www.reinhardt.edu/funkheritage/events.htm for more details and information. 

Louvre Atlanta: The Louvre and the Ancient World

This exhibition features masterpieces from the founding cultures of Western civilization and will include more than 70 works from the Louvre’s unparalleled Egyptian, Near Eastern and Greco-Roman antiquities collections.

For more information on this extraordinary exhibition at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art, please visit the official Louvre Atlanta website.  You can also learn more about this exhibit in this CNN article!