April 2009 Archives

What are you going to do tonight? Well, I am going to one of my favorite events. It is the Art & Music Departments Gala. 5:30 start in the Paresky Center. It is one of the many many many end of the years events at Simmons. Like last week's Senior-Faculty Banquet, pictured above. Gotta tell you there is a feel-good exhaustion that overcomes me, like having run a marathon (never did, never will), when all this comes to an end. Sweete sweete music Friday May First 7 pm Alumnae Hall, me serenaded by 3 Simmons vocal groups. ...............................The Art & Music Liaison cordially invite you to attend a sophisticated night of art, music, and creative writing!

FREE ADMISSION

Doors will open at 5:30pm and the first performance will be at 5:45pm.

There will be a student art exhibit, musical performances, and readings from Simmons students.

The Gala will also be raffling/auctioning exquisite student art work for $10 a ticket as a fundraiser for next year's Gala and other cultural activities on campus. 

Proper Dress Recommended 

PLEASE BRING YOUR FRIENDS! Simmons, Alumnae, Outside of Simmons, Family, and Neighbors are welcome!

As we head into the spring, some inevitable things are happening.  Recession or no recession, all of your friends and family are getting married, having babies, and celebrating important birthdays.  Must the difficult economy mean that we need to scale back and no longer recognize these important occasions in the lives of our loved ones?  No!  It might just take some real creativity to plan these showers and birthday parties for next to nothing.  It is a great time in history to remember that important occasions do deserve celebrations, but that love matters more than how much you can afford to spend on these parties.

I am excited to share with you some ideas to make these parties fun, memorable and very inexpensive!

1.   Set a budget

It might seem like an obvious recommendation, especially for an article titled, "Party Planning on a Budget,"  but I think it bears recommending.  So many people start out the party planning and get so excited about their ideas that they forget this important first step.  Figure out the total amount you (and any co-hosts) are willing to spend on the affair, make a list of items and allocate the money accordingly, and then stick to it!  Even if the total amount seems small, don't worry.  You can make it work!  These tips are designed to help you plan a party within any budget.

2.   Location, location, location...

The location of your party will make a HUGE difference in the final cost of the event and there are lots of options for free or extremely low cost venues that you could use.  There is no reason to rent a hotel banquet room, hall, or club space.  An obvious option would be a home of a friend or family member of the guest of honor that is large enough to hold your guests.  This would be free!  If the party is during the summer, or even during much of the spring or fall, you could host it in someone's yard or at a local park or beach that has a covered space.  Many such spaces are either very low cost or free (sometimes you just need to secure a permit from the town for a few dollars to use the space).  I recently heard of a great idea along these lines.  Many towns or counties have rental space that is free or low cost for use by residents.  These spaces might be in a historic town hall, a public library, a community farm, or a museum managed by the town.  Your local taxes are already going to maintain such locations, so it is worth a phone call to your town offices to find out if they are available to you.  Many such places are historic, and may be just as beautiful as a place you could spend thousands of dollars to rent!  Another idea worth considering would be conference space within the office building where you work.  This type of room would not always be available for non-work-related functions, but you will never know if you don't ask.

3.   Consider trimming the guest list

This is a tricky tip that will not work for all parties, especially when you are planning them in conjunction with another event (i.e. a wedding shower preceding a wedding, etc.)  However, if the party is a shower, consider whether the guest of honor will receive more than one shower.  Is it possible for you to concentrate on only one segment of the guest of honor's circle of friends and family?  Examples would be throwing a shower for only the family, only the friends, only the friends from college, only the friends from work, etc.  If the party is not a surprise, you could let the guest of honor know that you would love to throw them a shower including that specific group.  If it is a surprise, you could contact the guest of honor's parents or siblings to let them know your intentions.  This way, if someone else would like to throw a shower for other people loved by the guest of honor, they will have plenty of time to plan such a party.

While it would usually be great to invite everyone that the guest of honor knows to your party, each individual increases the overall costs of the party.  Food, favors, chairs, etc all must be multiplied by the total number of people.  While you might decide to not scrimp in this area, trimming the guest list will be worth your consideration before you get too far into planning the party since it will make such a big difference in your costs at the end.

4.   Beg, borrow and steal

What do you need to pull off a successful party?  A few items that come to mind right-off-the-bat are: chairs, serving pieces, pots, pans and cookie sheets, tables, table cloths, hot plates, etc.  It would be really expensive for you to go try to buy or rent any of the items that you don't already own.  Spend some time thinking about the people in your circle of family and friends (especially those who know the guest of honor) who might own or have access to these items and might be willing to lend them to you for the occasion.  A wonderful source for these types of items would be your church or community center.  If you are a member, they might be willing to lend you whatever you need (as long as you return it in great condition!).

I should point out that the emphasis in this tip is on the "beg and borrow" and not so much on the "steal"!

5.   Collaborative efforts

Don't feel like you must plan the party all by yourself.  A great way to lower your costs is to involve several co-hosts and spread the costs of the party among you.  A great benefit of this idea is also that many brains will be available for brainstorming when it comes to figuring out creative solutions in order to save money.  Be careful, however, since this can backfire.  With so many excited hosts involved, it can be easy to ignore any budgetary constraints.  The best way to avoid this awkward situation is to have a reasonable budget already determined before you invite co-hosts to join you in planning the party.  This way, you can present the costs up-front to your potential co-hosts before they commit to getting involved, and everyone will be more likely to stick to the budget.

6.   Do it yourself

I don't mean that you should literally do it all by yourself.  Instead, I mean that you should consider the skills, talents, and potential of you and your co-hosts before automatically deciding that you need to spend extra money and purchase professionally made items to plan a successful party.  You may find that invitations, food, decorations, and favors can be inexpensive and simple to make yourself, as opposed to purchasing expensive versions made by someone else.  Also, these can be fun projects for you and your co-hosts as you prepare for your party, and best of all - they are a fun way to add a very personal touch that your guest of honor is sure to appreciate!

7.   Think within your budget

This is an important way to actually stick to the budget that you set at the beginning of your party planning project.  A lot of people will choose an overall budget number for the party, but then forget to break down the number so that they actually know how much to spend in each area.  Without a detailed plan, you will most certainly overspend.  So, remember, when you decide how much you can spend in total for the party, make a list of all of the areas in which you plan to spend money.  Allocate your total number among the areas.  You should consider distributing the budget based upon the likely costs of each item, rather than an equal division of the money among the categories.  For example, even if you make all the food yourself, purchasing the ingredients can get expensive.  Therefore, you may want the "food" portion of the budget to be a larger percentage than, perhaps, the invitations.

8.   Evite

Speaking of invitations, technology has improved quite a bit over the last few years and you may not be aware of the cost-saving opportunities that are available to you when it comes to inviting guests to your event.  One of the most popular websites for inviting guests to events is called Evite.  It is a wonderful, free way to send and manage electronic invitations to your party.  This is perfect for you, especially if your crowd is on the younger side and very comfortable using e-mail.  In order to successfully use Evite, you must know all of your guests' e-mail addresses.  You then go to the website, create a free account, choose an invitation template, type in your event information, and enter in your guests' names and e-mail addresses and the website will send electronic invitations to everyone on your list.  Guests can even RSVP to you directly on the site.

It may be innappropriate to use Evite if you have an older crowd or if the event is particularly formal, but many events would be perfect for an Evite versus a paper invitation.  With the costs of stamps going up all the time (and again in May, 2009!) as well as the costs of paper to make the invitations, you may find Evite to be very attractive.

9.   Choose an "off" hour

As I mentioned above, food (and alcohol) is often the most expensive part of a party.  Just looking at the costs related to the food can make you rethink your intentions of hosting the party in the first place.  There is an easy solution to this problem that can help lower your overall costs significantly.  You should plan the party to begin during a time of day that is not considered a "meal" time.  Generally, if a guest is invited to a party during the traditional time associated with breakfast, brunch, lunch, or dinner, they will expect to be fed a meal at the party.  Breakfast would normally be 7:00am to 10:00am, brunch would be 10:00am to 1:00pm (during the weekend, only), lunch would be 11:30am to 1:30pm and dinner would be 5:00pm to 8:00pm.  A guest invited to a party outside of these time frames would normally only expect a light snack.  With this in mind, a great time for your party would be 2:00pm or 3:00pm in the afternoon (either Saturday or Sunday), or after 8:00pm at night (Friday or Saturday).  Most guests would expect snacks and alcohol at the later evening party times, but mid-afternoon parties would be perfectly appropriate with coffee, tea, sodas and snacks.  You can save significant money on food with this strategy, and the party will still be lots of fun.

10. Pick a fun theme that helps your bottom line

Finally, a fun tip to help you stick to the budget would be to choose a theme for your party that is budget friendly.  The theme you choose should be one that can be inexpensive in every way - from decorations to food, to alcohol, to invitations - but can still be lots of fun!  Don't forget to shop for decor everywhere from the dollar store to your own basement.  A few simple ideas would be:

a) Backyard garden tea party
b) Mexican fiesta
c) Christmas in July (pull out your Christmas decorations for the occasion)
d) The Guest-of-honor's favorite color (decorate everything in the color and make all the food in that color as well)
e) BBQ beach party

This list is just to get you started brainstorming.  There are so many ways to make your party fun, memorable, creative and budget friendly!  Please comment and share your own tips here.

My previously mentioned apartment search took a hiatus last month when I jetted over to San Francisco for a Simmons reunion with one of my bestest classmates, Kate Diamond.  

It was my first venture further west than the east coast (embarrassingly enough,) and it was great to catch up with Kate and another classmate, Carla Doughty, as well as various other friends and family members.  See below some photos of my Bay-area expeditions with Kate.

I've been employed in technology since 1999, and I've been using it heavily since I got my Commodore 64 in 4th grade (did I just prove that I'm ancient?  Oh well...).  I am now irrefutably convinced of one thing:

There are Technology Ghosts.

I have very clear anecdotal evidence for this conclusion:

• While doing a routine time synchronization, my domain controller decided that it was exactly 7 months in the future.  This did very bad things to the whole system.  No errors were recorded, and the target sync server is fine.
• While doing a hot swap of a battery, all power ceased to the primary servers.  Note that the same hot swap had been performed with no problems merely twenty minutes before.
• For no known reason, the entire company's computer systems slow down between 2:00 PM and 4:00 PM every business day.  We can see the slowdown occur, but the reason behind the slowdown remains unknown, as everything looks clean.

Perhaps you don't understand much of the terminology above, but that's okay.  I have other examples, but believe me when I say that these are quite odd things to have happen all at one computer site.

I wonder if there's a reason for the Technology Ghosts.  Was a server brutally slain in the data center 20 years ago?  Are the computers still bitter about the switch from WordPerfect to Word? Maybe the computers don't like that there are windows that open and occasionally leak in their room?

Whatever the reason, anyone know a good Technology Exorcist?

For this third Simmons study abroad trip to South Africa, we're opening up new connections there and here that will make this trip distinctive and make it a voyage of discovery for everyone, including me--something I think is essential for all teaching to keep us from becoming stale but also part of what makes this undertaking exciting.

A story in the New York Times on an innovative city parks official,the managing director of Joburg's parks, Luther Williamson, who is doing some very interesting things with parks development in black townships, led to arrangements to meet him in Soweto and visit the Diepkloof Extreme Park, built on what had been little more than a trash dump site and is now a center of community identity and activity.

We're also on for a meeting with a representative of the South African Gender Commission, which is housed in remnants of the old women's political prison in Johannesburg, near the Constitutional Court, which will be a first for one of our groups. And we're spending a day with a shack-dwellers movement--Abahlali baseMjondolo--in Durban with the help of one of my Africa Politics course students, Maya Semans (maya.semans@simmons.edu), who spent the spring semester over there and is now working with them.

Alice from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll: she follows that white rabbit, even though he's already in a rush, even though it's really none of her business. And when she falls down that rabbit hole, she just seems game for anything that comes her way. Good for you, Alice.

Emily from Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery: Emily was so much darker than Anne of Green Gables; she had more of an artist's temperament, not to mention that strange extra-sensory perception that helped her solve a mystery or two. It was like Anne with magical powers--it's really no wonder that I loved all three books in the series.

Mary from The Secret Garden and Sarah from The Little Princess (both by Frances Hodgson Burnett). These two are so different, but I love them both: Mary begins as a contrary little girl who blossoms throughout the book, and Sarah's inherent sweetness and intelligence endures even when she loses everything.

At the top of my literary heroine list is Wilhelmina Harker from Bram Stoker's Dracula. If you have not read the book and have only seen the movie then no doubt you are confused by this (but if you've actually seen a good movie that portrays Mina properly, please email me the title). In the book, Mina is not only good and pure and loyal, she's bright and resourceful: she types up journal entries in order to share the tales of the strange Count with others in their circle. She rescues Lucy from her strange sleepwalking ventures, and I love the detail of Mina giving Lucy her shoes, then putting mud on the tops of her own feet in order to conceal their nakedness from passers-by. She is intelligent, and in one scene the others shake her hand "as they would a man," for she's revealed something so insightful about the beast they are hunting--yes, this may sound terribly chauvinistic, but we have to remember that it's not yet 1900. Above all, Mina's bravery shines for me. She is terrified of what Count Dracula has done to her and what that might mean for her own soul, but that does not stop her from making up her mind: if she exhibits any strange behavior, each of the men are instructed to kill her in order to protect themselves. This makes for one of the most powerfully terrifying scenes I have ever read, when Van Helsing wakes to find Mina staring at him strangely...oh, oh my.

I am writing this from New Orleans as I am at a conference called Experimental Biology.  Years ago, this conference was called FASEB (which stands for Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology).  There are over 10,000 attendees this year from 6 professional organizations for research scientists in human biology.  The American Society of Nutrition is one of them and this morning I presented some research results at one of the sessions.

The most interesting thing actually happened after the presentation when people informally talk to each other.  It was a like a "authors, meet each other" event. People who read my papers came and tell me about it, and I saw all these people whom I have read their papers that I went to them to tell them. It was great to be able to put a face to the people whom I know their names and their work.

The only part of New Orleans I saw was the convention center, the French Quarter (where my hotel is), and the land between. What I saw looked normal from the last time I was here, which was about 10 months before Katrina. There were a fair number of tourists around. 

Yesterday was terrific and I'm still weary and recovering. First, there was Alumni Day at GSLIS, a whole day of programming geared toward grads of the program. In the morning, the speaker was Sarah Thomas, a GSLIS graduate who is the librarian at the Bodley Library at the University of Oxford. She told us this story about a set of books gifted to the library by King Henry V (yes, a long time ago) and in the religious upheaval during the time of King Edward VI the library was destroyed (purged of Catholic content, in fact) and these books were dispersed. The pages of said books were used to wrap butter, or tailors used the vellum to line their clothing. Only a few books out of the collection remain, and they are all at the Bodleian. (For more details visit http://www.ouls.ox.ac.uk/bodley/about/history).

As you can imagine, at this point in the talk the historical novelist in me said "Wha-wha-whaaat??? Medieval manuscripts used to wrap up butter? For reals?" Can't you just imagine the sweaty kitchen of some dirt poor dairy farmer, far from London, with a pile of books and odd papers piled in a shadowy corner. The woman, when her thick worker arms, is tired from churning butter or milking ornery cows and whatnot, and she turns to the pages and tears them efficiently from the binding, to make them ready for use. What good are they to her as they are? But does she pause, if only for a moment, noting the precisely drawn letters, the flourishes of the text? A book fit for kings, perhaps...or nothing better than scraps of paper, good for wrapping blocks of butter, the pages turning translucent with fat.

But I digress. In the afternoon we had a tribute (NOT a memorium, no sir) for Professor Allen Smith who died last summer. I had the opportunity to work with Allen at GSLIS and I really liked his approach to things. For example, he thought there shouldn't be any chairs in meetings - if people were standing, business would get done a lot faster. He also had very stringent rules about the use of exclamation points, which I remember whenever I am tempted to use one (and I generally avoid it, thanks to Allen's sage advice). Aside from his career as a ridiculously beloved teacher at GSLIS, Allen was an expert on dulcimers, and he was a ferrier (he shoed horses). No, I'm not making this up. And on top of all of that...he was just a really cool, really funny guy.

After all of the Alumni Day festivities - including the honor society event that I planned in the late afternoon - I met up with Tom and we went to The Flight of the Conchords concert at the Agannis Arena. I do love a nice glockenspiel. And they sang "Bowie's in Space" (complete with bizarre David Bowie impressions) which made me very happy.

But it's great accomplishments live on.  Not only did the Simmons Community come together in the annual rite of bidding wars and wondering at what the basements of certain individuals might look like, but their combined generosity made a big difference for a local charity.

The 25th Annual Silent Auction is on track to raise over $6000.00 (not a typo) for the Fenway Parker Hill Emergency Food Pantry. 

Thanks to everyone who donated, bid, participated, blogged, volunteered, and joined in the fun!

In April 1969, a group of students from the Black Student Organization presented Simmons President William Park with the Ten Demands, outlining a plan to increase diversity in the student body, among faculty and staff, and in the academic program.  

The new exhibit, curated by Ashley Solod, Archives student worker, provides a detailed account of how the College responded to each of the Demands.

The exhibit is outside the College Archives, LIB-220, and will be featured through April.  

Recently, my career advisor from grad school, Terry Del Percio, posted a very interesting article entitled, Portfolio Careers: A Career of Multiple Part-Time Jobs (can be found at www.quintcareers.com/portfolio_careers.html).  Such an interesting descriptor I thought because I immediately thought of a stock portfolio and the advice - diversify, diversify, diversify. The article opens by posing several questions, "Is it the career of the future or a passing fad? Will workers and employers in the U.S. embrace the concept as strongly as in Europe? Is it right for you?"

 

According to the article, "Portfolio careers are usually built around a collection of skills and interests, though the only consistent theme is one of career self-management. With a portfolio career you no longer have one job, one employer, but multiple jobs and employers within one or more professions." Certainly in these economic times, it would seem that a portfolio career could emerge naturally. Those of us in job seeker mode find that we have to be creative to attain gainful employment which sometimes means leveraging our skills on a consulting or part-time basis. Companies are streamlining their budgets and expenses and are sometimes much more open to paying a flat fee or an agreed upon rate that is not accompanied by the responsibility of providing benefits and other types of insurance required by labor law for each person on staff.

 

Interestingly, this was all predicted by Charles Handy in the early 1990s, according to Quintessential Careers. He really felt that we would be more in control of our careers by working multiple small jobs as opposed to one big job. I realized that having multiple jobs was attractive to me although I wouldn't classify them as "part-time jobs." Given my concentration of efforts, it also made sense to launch my own business, Valentine Consulting of South Florida, LLC. However, it still seems to me to fall under the same philosophy of the portfolio career.

 

I personally enjoy working with multiple companies and clients. It increases my knowledge base a great deal and it keeps things much more interesting. It also makes it easier to remain current with many of the advances and developments in the nation. Each client has a somewhat different story and somewhat different need so as I delve into each scenario, I attain new nuggets of information. On the other side of the coin, I have to be proactive about building my brand to continue expanding my network. Most people in that "one big job" don't have to worry about that. I find, however, that the building my brand process yet again helps me to increase my knowledge base and try new things that I can then share with my clients. Is this a fad for me? I doubt it because as I look back on my resume, I realize that I truly enjoyed working for smaller organizations because it gave me the opportunity to wear multiple hats and experience diversity in my assignments. Now I have expanded to experiencing diversity in my clients and projects.

Saturday, April 18th is bout 3 of season 3. My team, the Nutcrackers, is playing the Wicked Pissahs, followed by a bout between the Boston Massacre and the Philadelphia Liberty Belles.

I'm all doom and gloom this week because I blew out my knee in a scrimmage on April 5th, which means I won't be able to skate in Saturday's game. I've been pouting for a week...and will continue to do so until after the game is over. We have a lot to prove this year and I'm feeling sad that I won't be on the track to help out my teammates. Oh well...bum knees are par for the course in roller derby.

I couldn't get an appointment with an orthopedic doctor until this coming Thursday, so I've been limping around for over a week with no diagnosis. I'm afraid he'll just give me the old RICE regimen (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation), which I've been doing since I took the fall. Somehow I wish there was some miracle cure (besides knee surgery) that he could give me in the form of a pill that would allow me to skate with zero pain on Saturday....but that's not the way things work.

What I've learned since skating with the Boston Derby Dames is that women athletes are far more prone to knee injuries than men. Spraining or tearing of the ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) is the most common knee injury suffered by women who participate in "bone-jarring, stop-and-start sports." There have been several studies done in the past decade that show the dramatic difference in number of knee injuries in female compared to male athletes, but the reasons for this increased susceptibility are still not clear. (http://www.caaws.ca/girlsatplay/stuff/health/knee_injuries.htm)

Once the ligaments are damaged, there's no going back. Even though they seem elastic, if they stretch too far they never return to their original elasticity. And of course if the ligament pops (tears), the only way to repair it is through surgery. So far the Boston Derby Dames has one woman who went through knee surgery to repair her ACL. There are several others, including myself, who have suffered injuries, but who have not yet undergone surgery. Time will tell.

My knee is feeling much better this week and going up and down stairs is much less painful than it was just three days ago. My hope is that I'll be able to get back to practices by next week, depending on the doc's diagnosis of course. I guess it's a good thing that my next game is in June...should give me a little more time to go through physical therapy and get back into the swing of things.

That's all for now. I'll post a bout recap after the weekend. And as always...if you have nothing to do this Saturday night, I know a hot spot up north of the city where you can watch some ladies kick ass and take names: www.bostonderbydames.com.

Over the years Simmons College students have enjoyed annual day-long athletic events in celebration of the Spring Season.  The first springtime athletic event held at Simmons College was Track Day.  The event was organized by the newly formed Simmons Athletic Association in 1911 and included several athletic events in which each class competed for gold and silver cups.  Traditionally held in May, the outdoor athletic events were joined over the years by various non-athletic competitions.

 

In 1916, non-athletic competitions such as best Song and Best Costume contests were added into the event.  The popular Student Faculty Baseball game became incorporated in Track Day in the early 1920's.  Track Day continues to be a popular springtime outdoor event, now known as the Simmons Cup.

Visit the College Archives Display Case in Java City to learn more about Spring Spree and see some wonderful photos! 

The week before Easter generally is very busy for the church organist, and at many places, more busy than even Christmas.

The past Tuesday, after my work at Simmons, I went to accompany choir rehearsal at a church -- the world's longest choir rehearsal. It was over 4 hours! First the children's choir rehearsed, then the adult choir, then the cantors (ie, song leaders) wanted to rehearsed.

On Thursday I played organ for a service in the evening, on Saturday, a 2.5 hour Mass (i.e. Easter Vigil) , and then on Easter Sunday services. Easter Vigil starts after sun down, and for this particular church, the service began at 8pm.  The first 1/3 of the service is done in candle light only. There was a light on the organ so that wasn't the problem. But a few years ago, it was a problem. I was playing the pieces on a piano with no lamp nearby. A choir member kindly shone her flashlight (the choir was reading the music with flashlight)  on the music for me (still too dim for easy reading). But the bigger problem was that the keyboard was still dark, so I could hardly see my fingers and the keys. What a disaster.

For Easter Sunday (today), there was a trumpet player who is a professor at the Berkeley College of Music. It is amazing how loud the trumpet is. With him playing next to me, I could barely hear the organ, and I pulled almost all the loud stops (i.e. set the organ at a loud volume).

Anyway, it was very busy and musically intense weekend, but it was wonderful. I enjoyed every bit of it. I had been practicing for this since Spring Break, and it is kind of sad that it is now all over. I can't say enough how I enjoy playing piano and organ. It allows me to take my mind off what I normally do and intensely focus on something else for awhile.

Nice to see you again, Simmons! It's been quite an interesting month since my last blog posting. You may notice a couple of my posts have disappeared. Unfortunately, there was a request to take a post down by someone I knew very closely. So here I am back at square one, with only a few posts left. So why don't I start over with an overwhelmingly positive piece?

My work as a freelance writer is something I absolutely enjoy and pursue every day. However, I always resisted creating my own website, despite the repeated requests of my friends. However, after reading about how some of my favorite twenty-something writers such as Julia Allison and Emily Gould use their websites to display their work, I realized I too had to join the club! Now I have my own site where all of my articles are displayed in one place, instead of scattered around the web on their select sites. Due to the neighborhood I live in, I decided to call my website "Down and Out in Beacon Hill." I took the name from the fabulous movie "Down and Out in Beverly Hills," which is actually based on the French play "Boude Sauve Des Eaux." The movie tells the story of an extremely wealthy yet dysfunctional family that takes in a homeless man after he tries to drown himself in their pool. Their entire world is shaken up by the influence of this man, and ultimately they are able to see an entire world outside of Beverly Hills. (Also, one thing I always noticed was how the father chugs Pepto Bismol from the bottle in his car due to a nervous stomach, a habit I always thought only my own father and I shared!)

So if you're ever sitting around on your lunch break looking for a few good laughs, please feel free to click on over to Down and Out in Beacon Hill!

"People travel to wonder at the height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the seas, at the long course of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and yet they pass by themselves without wondering."

- St. Augustine

The King's Rose was nominated for YALSA's Best Books for Young Adults list. Exciting, eh? Here is the full list of nominees. I'm in some pretty amazing company!http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/booklistsawards/bestbooksya/titlesnominated.cfm

In other publicity news, I've got an interview posted on the blog of author Kris Waldherr. Kris wrote up a really interesting and insightful interview after reading the book; it was a pleasure to answer her questions. Check it out here: http://kriswaldherr.com/blog/. Please comment on the interview! One commenter will be sent a free, signed copy of The King's Rose. Wahooo!

I'll also be posting on My Own Cafe this month, to answer teen's questions about writing historical fiction, or just about writing and publishing in general. We also want to see YOUR fiction, my young adult friends! Enter your piece of historical fiction - any person, any time period. The winning entry will receive a signed copy of The King's Rose, not to mention online praise and notoriety on My Own Cafe. The gauntlet has been thrown! Visit the site here: http://www.myowncafe.org/.

I can't remember if I've already shared with you my interview on YA Authors Cafe: http://yaauthorscafe.blogspot.com/2009/03/kings-rose-by-alisa-libby.html. Author Cynthia Leitich Smith also linked to it from her blog, Cynsations. Super awesome.

I'm also looking forward to my next booksigning on Saturday, April 11 at the B. Dalton in the South Shore Plaza in Braintree, MA. I had a successful signing there for The Blood Confession and the staff were all wonderful. Here's hoping this signing will be a success for all involved. So if you're in the area and you want a signed copy of the book, please visit me at my little table. Otherwise I will be very lonely.

Massachusetts is recognized worldwide for its strengths in the medical and education fields; but, it's been a global leader in the technology and defense fields, too. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, according to Mass Insight Corporation, Massachusetts has contributed a wide array of innovations, from radar and mainframe computers to internet technology and nanotechnology. As of June, 2008, the Information Technology/Communications/Defense sector in Massachusetts had 331,000 jobs, representing 10% of the state's employment and accounting for 15% of the state's annual economic output. Mass Insight Corporation, which is a research and consulting firm that promotes the state's businesses in the global economy, recently published a report, Sustaining and Enhancing a Leadership Position for Massachusetts in IT, Communications and Defense, which outlines a strategy for preserving the state's global leadership in technology and for becoming the "World's IT Security Capital." A crucial component of the strategy includes developing a Talent Development Bank for fostering collaboration between universities and high-tech industries. The goal here is to develop the workforce talent needed to develop new technologies and to spur economic growth.

 

The month's blog features a Simmons alumna, Maria Granada, who double-majored in mathematics and computer science and landed a career working in the aeronautics and defense industry. Please meet Maria!

 

Maria Granada, B.S. in Mathematics and Computer Science, 2006

                                                   

 

How did you end up majoring in math, Maria?  
Well, I wasn't one of those students who always loved math or who always was one of the best at math! I came to this country from the Philippines when I was 8 years old. I started piano lessons then, and music drew me into math. Math was something I had already learned before coming to the U.S. and there wasn't a language or reading barrier for me.


What did you think you wanted to do with math?

Honestly, I hadn't set out to be a math major. My original plan was to major in computer science. Because this major had some math prerequisites, e.g., discrete mathematics, I just thought that with a few more courses I could major in math as well.


What have you been doing since leaving Simmons? How does the math you learned at Simmons impact you on a daily basis?
I'm a software engineer at Lockheed Martin in Orlando where I've been working since August, 2006. I work on the F-35 program. [Quoting from Wikipedia: "The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a fifth-generation, single-seat, single-engine, stealth-capable military strike fighter, a multirole aircraft that can perform close air support, tactical bombing, and air defense missions. "] My assignments over the last two years have given me the opportunity to work on the full life cycle of the project, from design to architecture to implementation. The F-35 developed out of the Joint Strike Fighter program. It's the largest Department of Defense program ever launched. The enduring value of math for me is that it helps me to apply critical thinking and to do logical analysis. I don't work with numerical calculations.


How do you spend your time outside work?
Right now I'm working on a Master of Aeronautical Science, with a dual specialization in Aeronautics and Space Studies, at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. I find aeronautical science and space studies to be so cool ... they're completely new to me, completely unlike any subject I took in high school or college. I'm doing my Masters online. I take two courses per semester, three semesters per year. I should be done in April 2010.

 

What led to you to pursue this Masters?
I wanted to have a better perspective on what I'm trying to help build. I work on very specific aspects of the F-35 program. I wanted to have the big picture.

 

What would you like to be doing in five years and why?
After getting my Masters, my goal is to get a Ph.D. in information assurance and security. In working on the F-35 project, information gets sent all around the world in different data types. It's hard to ensure that information is sent and received securely. That's why I want to pursue a Ph.D. in this area.

Do you have any advice for alums?
These past couple of years since graduating from Simmons have been pretty intense, what with relocating from Massachusetts to Florida and starting a new career. My advice for alums is the same advice I give myself: Take time to chillax! J In my spare time, I'm learning Spanish through Rosetta Stone and I play a few instruments - piano, guitar and drums.  I also enjoy playing Guitar Hero on the Wii with friends. I enjoy gardening, too. Pulling roots and shoveling mulch can really help you to unwind!

 

 

 

If you have any questions for Maria or about this blog, be sure to write!