notebookism

The 2008 Chicago Pen Show

Photos from the Chicago Pen Show held at the Westin O'Hare on Sunday, May 4.

View the FLICKR photo set.

Author: Keep Privacy by Baring Soul on Paper, Not Web

It's OK to hate Taylor, or to think that Seth only told you he liked Allison so you would tell Courtney, or to wish that your mom would disappear. Teenagers have a right to gripe. But they should do it in their personal journals, not online for the world to see, says award-winning writer Meg Cabot.

The author of "The Princess Diaries" has teamed with the American Library Association to hold events across the country for young people who want to learn more about airing their thoughts in writing the traditional way: with a pen.

The lack of privacy among teenagers online is a growing area of concern, and experts say there's a fine line between healthy expression and TMI (too much information). They say posting thoughts online can leave teens overexposed to potential bullies, college admissions officers, predators - or just offended friends and loved ones.

At the "Teen Journal Writing Workshops," participants can decorate their own journals and learn about writing in them from a best-seller who uses her own teenage diaries as material for her books.

Read the full article by HILLARY RHODES
The Associated Press
@ The Ledger

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Sheaffer Pen factory to close in spring

FORT MADISON, Iowa (AP) - Nearly a century of making pens in Fort Madison will soon be history.

BIC USA says it expects to complete the shutdown of the Sheaffer Pen factory by the end of March, affecting about 40 workers.

Part of the operation is being moved to Asia, with others to Slovakia. Service and repair will be handled by Sheaffer's distributor in Philadelphia.

Read the full article

Collage: Sheaffer

Lost planner found in demolition rubble

Not exactly Dr. Jones but  read on, you'll get the drift...

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. - For six years, Avis Kirk had been wondering what the heck she had done with her small leather planner book that held her checkbook, credit cards, ID and about $60.

The planner had vanished without a trace after the former Sands Casino Hotel food service worker set it down near the buffet for a few moments in 2001.

"I couldn't even imagine where it went," she said. "I thought it had been stolen. So many people helped me look for it."

But it wasn't until Ed Ensman, a demolition crew supervisor helping tear down the former Sands building spotted it in the rubble on Aug. 30 that the mystery was solved.

"We were doing interior demolition, tearing down some inside walls, and one of the Bobcat front-end loaders we use was right next to a wall," he said. "I was watching it pretty closely, and as soon as the Bobcat moved away, I saw it on the ground."

By Wayne Parry, AP
Read the rest of the story

[Thanks Chris]

The Albin Schram Collection of Autograph Letters

A GREAT SATIRICAL DIATRIBE ON THE VIRTUES OF BULLS. Hemingway writes on the way to Pamplona, having found the fishing at Burguete destroyed by logging -- 'Last decent fishing left in Yarrup [Europe] -- not including Norway'; nevertheless, Hemingway admits 'Feel good for the first time in months. Certainly feel good. Feel so good there's nothing to write about'; he enquires about the publication of his short story, 'The Undefeated', 'I'd like to see my bull story printed, but so long as I've been paid for it and can read it every mo. in serial form in Der Querschnitt in German and refresh my German thereby I'm in no hurry'; if Walsh is not going to produce another issue, however, Hemingway will 'pooblish it somewhere else'. Pound has written a tribute to Hemingway as 'hero and family man', for which Hemingway offers ironic thanks: 'I will ... riposte when your guard happens to be down'. He continues with a scathing commentary on a talk by 'Ford Madox Madox Ford' on new writers, describing it as largely 'imaginary conversations between himself and Americans speaking an imaginary Yankee dialect ... It gave his megalomania a gala night'. This, Hemingway concludes, would have shown Pound why he comes to Spain to watch bulls, and he launches into a satirical comparison of the virtues of bulls and the vices of Ford, which becomes a bitter diatribe against society:

HEMINGWAY, Ernest (1899-1961). Autograph letter (signed 'Yours in Christian Science, Mother Eddy') to Ezra Pound, Burguete, Spain, n.d. [?1 or 2 July 1925], one word deleted by a later hand on p.4, 4 pages, 4to, on a bifolium.
Estimate    25,000 - 35,000

Christie's - The Albin Schram Collection of Autograph Letters
"The Albin Schram Collection of Autograph Letters
Sale 7411
3 July 2007, 10:00 am & 2:30 pm
8 King Street, St. James's, London"

LINK

[Thanks Chris!]

Teens writing, for a change

"Teens toting manuscripts trickle into a grittily hip storefront on Main Street in Over-the-Rhine on a spring afternoon, sprawling in a hodgepodge of '70s chairs. Some pull out elaborate journals filled with short stories or illustrated poetry, some have a sheet of notebook paper stuffed in a back pocket, but they all gather beneath the splotchy InkTank logo for one purpose: to listen to one another's writing.

"I usually leave the workshop with more ideas than I had going in," says senior Katie Sheldon, 18, a creative writing major at the School for Creative and Performing Arts.

"The writing prompts we've worked on have sparked a few short stories, and I've enjoyed meeting other students who are interested in writing," says Sheldon, a regular who turns up twice a month to work on her craft at the InkTank teen writers salon..."

Teens writing, for a change
By Pamela Fisher
Read the full article at The Enquirer

Photo: "Carnet du Grand Ouest" by Romuald L
@ Notebookism/FLICKR

Iowa Woman Fired for Journaling at Work

An administrative judge has denied unemployment benefits to a woman who was fired from her job for keeping a journal detailing her efforts to avoid work.

Emmalee Bauer, 25, of Elkhart, was employed by the Sheraton hotel company as a sales coordinator in Des Moines. While on the job, she kept a handwritten journal. A supervisor told her to stop writing on company time, but instead, Bauer wrote her journal, all 300 single-spaced pages, on her work computer.

In the journal, portions of which were introduced during a recent hearing regarding Bauer's request for unemployment, Bauer describes her efforts to avoid work.

"This typing thing seems to be doing the trick," she wrote. "It just looks like I am hard at work on something very important."

Forbes/Associated Press

LINK

Forensic Scientist Attempts to Reconstruct Astronaut's Notebook

"NASA went to great lengths to retrieve any material that had originated in the shuttle and managed to find its way back to Earth. Two months after the accident, a pile of papers containing Hebrew handwriting was found strewn in a field in Texas. Once verified that they were indeed part of a NASA Crew Notebook, the papers were given to Rona Ramon, the wife of Ilan Ramon, who decided to have them treated in Israel..."

By Sharon Brown

Advanced Imaging Pro
LINK

Thief snatches prized notebook of Los Primos band member

What's up with this recent rash of notebook thefts?

Jun Tokunaga, singer and drummer for the band Los Primos, which produced the hit song, "Love You Tokyo," is devastated that a thief has snatched a notebook containing hundreds of contact listings relating to songs he wrote.

Tokunaga left his car parked in a coin-operated parking lot in Tokyo's Setagaya-ku at about 4 a.m. on Oct. 12, and when he returned about two hours later, he found a window on the passenger side of the vehicle had been smashed.

A bag containing the notebook, several thousand yen in cash, and a bank cash card was stolen from the vehicle.

Tokunaga started writing songs about local areas about seven years ago, while managing a bar. He didn't demand payment for the songs, saying he hoped his actions would help revitalize each area. He also donated almost all of the money he made from his songs to welfare organizations.

Mainichi Daily News

LINK

Duo stole Hank Williams notebook

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Two people accused of stealing a Hank Williams notebook believed to be worth $250,000 surrendered to police, even though one of the suspects claims to have legitimately obtained the item, officials said.

Stephen M. Shutts, 42, and Francine Boykin, 50, were each charged Monday with felony theft before being released on $2,500 bond.

Shutts, co-owner of the traveling Honky Tonk Hall of Fame and Rock & Roll Roadshow, said in earlier interviews that he had purchased the notebook for an undisclosed amount this summer after being contacted about it, purportedly by Boykin, last November.

The notebook, well known in music circles, includes jottings and song lyrics from Williams, who died at the age of 29 on Jan. 1, 1953.

The Associated Press
[via Seatlle PI]