It's good to be back. . .

. . .to the blog.  The weekend was long but rewarding.  The Oz Writing Contest was especially enjoyable.  When I get a copy of the photo of Abby Wiegand, the 3rd to 5th grade division winner, listening with her mom to her story ending being read, I will post it here.  Her delighted face shows the joy of hearing your own words being read by another and being appreciated by a group.

           Strange observations department:  Yesterday while I was coming home from Oneida, I passed a kid going about 15 mph in the breakdown lane on his mo-ped.  He was wearing one of those nazi stormtrooper helmets so popular with the Hell's Angels.  This was both unsettlingly oxymoronic and a possible glimpse into the future.  Kind of like seeing little Jeffrey Dahmer playing with his G.I. Joes and his Easy-Bake Oven.

           Today is the day I had set as a deadline to complete the TISHA AND THE GIANT rewrite. I'm not done, but with all that has occurred, I'm pretty happy with the progress I made.  I might really be done by next Monday.  I think I'll share another bit of TISHA today.  In the story, Tisha's favorite book, like my favorite book of all time, is TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD.  Her favorite character, also like mine, is the omnipresent but seldom visible Boo Radley.  At the end of the novel, Boo saves Scout and Gem from the evil Bob Ewell.  When Scout later sees him hiding in the corner, all she can think to say is, "Hey, Boo!"  It's one of my favorite moments in literature.  In TISHA AND THE GIANT, golden girl Tisha's life is battered when her mom leaves her dad and she is injured and can't play soccer for her senior year.  Soon her boyfriend will dump her, and her dad will start dating, and Tisha's life will really be in the pits, but when fictional Tisha writes this poem, she's still feeling pretty sorry for herself.   In her creative writing class, she is assigned a poem about a literary character,  a poem that both reveals her knowledge of the character and is a shot at being poetic.  Tisha chooses Boo and writes this poem:

    

Hey, Boo

a poem by Tisha Olsen

I wish so really, REALLY badly,

That I had my own Boo Radley.

Someone who was watching out

For me like Boo watched out for Scout.

And if one day he saw me sadly

All alone, then Boo would gladly,

Leave a gift, that’s just for me,

like the gifts for Scout that he left in the tree. 

Am I being silly, acting madly?

Wishing for my own Boo Radley,

You see my life’s been playing tricks,

The kind that maybe Boo could fix.

Boo killed to save his precious child,

In comparison my wish is mild,

I just wish that there’d maybe be,

Someone who’d make me first priority.

I’m sure right now my friends are thinking,

And behind my back they’re probably winking,

Winking and thinking, ‘what’s with Tish?

To have this strange Boo Radley Wish.’

She’s got great hair, her life’s not hard,

She has her Camry and her credit card;

Her dad is cool, her boyfriend’s hot,

I wish I had what Tish has got.

I know, I know, I know, I know,

But I have reasons even so;

Like missing soccer’s quite a bummer,

From my stupid head I hurt last summer.

But the real reason I keep grieving,

Is I can’t deal with my mother leaving;

There, I said it, and I really wish

I could say, “Hey, Boo,” he’d smile, “Hey, Tish.”

And Boo would be like mom had been,

I’d feel like me, like Tish again;

That’s why I wish so really badly,

That I had my very own Boo Radley.

             I thought this might be a good way of explaining how Tisha feels, and also be a way for me to establish Boo Radley as a kind of metaphor for the attention Tisha wants.  The poem is rhymed, because Tisha is suspicious of change and wouldn't write free verse.  The rhyme scheme is a bit clunky, because Tisha is still a clunky poet.  I also used Tisha's poetry later in the novel to help move the story along.