of

‘PM Modi did not even condole deaths of PK, Chuni’: Subhas Bhowmick




of

Brighton Covid-19 case highlights challenges of resuming EPL




of

When the stands shook: The tale of CV Pappachan’s Federation Cup glory




of

'Don't judge bowlers on the basis of their T20 performance': Wasim Akram

T20 cricket is no criteria to judge a bowler or his performance, says former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram.




of

TN: Private bus carrying stranded citizens of Kerala collides with water tanker on Karur-Salem highway, 25 injured

It is said to be the first road accident in Karur district after the lockdown was announced.




of

India-China face-off in north Sikkim, troops from both sides reportedly injured

News reports suggest that a total of 150 soldiers were involved in the face-off that allegedly took place a few days back.




of

BJP leader Kapil Mishra accuses Delhi government of hiding COVID-19 deaths

In Delhi, the total number of coronavirus cases has risen to 6,923 with 381 new cases reported in the last 24 hours. 2069 people have recovered, and 73 people died, according to the data published in the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare website.




of

Afghanistan Cricket Board bans wicketkeeper-batsman Shafiqullah Shafaq for 6 years from all forms of cricket

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) on Sunday banned wicketkeeper-batsman Shafiqullah Shafaq from all forms of cricket for a period of six years after he accepted four charges related to the breaching of the ACB Anti-Corruption Code.




of

Alec Baldwin returns as Donald Trump to congratulate ‘class of COVID-19’ in SNL finale





of

How five Canberrans are marking Mother's Day in the time of COVID-19 - The Canberra Times

  1. How five Canberrans are marking Mother's Day in the time of COVID-19  The Canberra Times
  2. Eight Australian mothers share the greatest thing their kids have taught them  ABC News
  3. Mother's Day: Our special mums - your stories  New Zealand Herald
  4. Mother's Day: Jacinda Ardern shares heartwarming message in celebration of her mum  Newshub
  5. Mum, in memory: A Mother's Day Tribute  New Straits Times
  6. View Full coverage on Google News









of

On behalf of Ballou Library in Washington DC, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

The final total of books gifted to Ballou Library via the October Book Fair & Cyber Monday  holiday shopping (which continued all week), comes in just over 200 titles! Thank you so much for buying books and helping to spread the word for this DC high school!


The wish list remains open year-round and there are a ton of great books on it, all of them chosen and approved by Ballou students. These are books the teens want and we so enjoy doing everything we can to get these books to them.

In the coming days I will be moving things around a bit on the list, getting series books together so they are easier to find. (I really really REALLY wish that amazon had "search by title" and "search by author" functions. So frustrating!) And we will, of course, be continuing to assist Ballou to fill its shelves next year and hope that you will return to the list and also help us spread the word about the amazing work done by librarian Melissa Jackson.

Have a lovely holiday folks, and thanks again for all you do to support this high school library.



  • Book Fair for Boys

of

The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz




Lyrical, visceral, and wise, The Inexplicable Logic of My Life by Benjamin Alire Sáenz haunts the melancholy middle between heartbreak and hope.

Salvador confronts his senior year and the anxiety that accompanies this countdown to supposed independence—questions of college and new beginnings and one’s true place in this world. Add to these the accumulating stressors particular to Sal’s life: homophobic slurs against his openly gay adopted father, feeling Mexican-American but looking white, the deteriorating health of his beloved grandmother Mimi, the deteriorating home life of his friend Fito, the devastating loss experienced by his best friend Samantha.

Not surprisingly, Sal finds himself greeting more days with fists and tears. Sal desperately wants to find himself in the larger sense, but as Sáenz deftly demonstrates in this young adult novel, all growth is loss—a truth that can make growth a daunting task.

With one of many eloquent words of wisdom, Sal’s father tells him early on we must “find a way to discipline our hearts so that their cruelty doesn’t turn us into hurt animals” (13). But how do we discipline our hearts without hardening them? How do we fight the darkness without devolving into darkness ourselves?

In Sal’s case, he scrapes together every illuminating spark: the tenacity of Fito, the loyalty of Sam, the grace of his father, the serenity of his grandmother. And through the spark of The Inexplicable Logic of My Life and Sáenz’s luminous prose, we learn anew how family is forged by more than blood—and though who we are is our life’s work, identity is never a solitary act.



  • Everyone's Got Issues
  • The Way We Live

of

My Side of the Mountain

This has never happened to me before: I enjoyed the sequel more than the original! Be assured, though, My Side of the Mountain

is very good. Young Sam Gribley goes off to live in the wilderness quite comfortably in a huge hollow tree. He trains a young falcon he named Frightful:

"Every day I worked to train Frightful. It was a long process, I would put her on her stump with a long leash and step back a few feet with some meat in my hand. Then I would whistle. The whistle was supposed eventually to mean food to her. So I would whistle, show her the meat, and after many false flaps she would finally fly to my hand. I would pet her and feed her. She could fly fairly well, so now I made sure that she never ate unless he flew to my fist.

"One day at breakfast I whistled for Frightful. I had no food, she wasn't even hungry, but she came to me anyway. I was thrilled. She had learned a whistle meant 'come.'

"I looked into her steely eyes that morning and thought I saw a gentle recognition. She puffed up her feathers as she sat on my hand. I call this a 'feather word.' It means she is content."

I also enjoyed this, from near the end of the book: "I returned to my patch on the mountain, talking to myself all the way. I talk to myself a lot, but everyone does. The human being, even in the midst of people, spends nine-tenths of his time alone with the private voices of his own head. Living alone on a mountain is not much different, except that your speaking voice gets rusty, I talked inside my head all the way home, thinking up schemes, holding conversations with Bando and Dad and Matt Spell...
"I cooked supper, and then sat down by my little fire and called a forum. It is very sociable inside my head, and I have perfected the art of getting a lot of people arguing together in silence or in a forum, as I prefer to call it. I can get four people all talking at once, and a fifth can be present, but generally I can't get him to talk. Usually these forums discuss such things as a storm and whether or not it is coming, how to make a spring suit, and how to enlarge my house without destroying the life in the tree. Tonight, however, they discussed what to do about Matt Spell. Dad kept telling me to go right down to the city and make sure he published nothing, not even a made-up story. Bando said, no, it's all right, he still doesn't know where you live, and then Matt walked into the conversation and said that he wanted to spend his spring vacation with me, and that he promised not to do anything untoward. Matt kept using 'untoward' - I don't know where he got that expression, but he liked it and kept using it - that's how I knew Matt was speaking; everything was 'untoward.'"

What I liked there was that it seemed that author Jean Craighead George described how her stories got generated. Characters in her head interacted, and she transcribed what took place onto paper. I could be wrong, but maybe.

The sequel that I liked even more is called On the Far Side of the Mountain. There's a third book, Frightful's Mountain, but I have not read it yet. It's here at my desk, so it won't be long.




of

UFC 249 ushers in fan-free, mask-filled era of sports

Kicks, punches and grunts echoed through the empty arena




of

WATCH: Dallas wins Game 2 of Stanley Cup Final vs. Buffalo | Stars CLASSICS

WATCH: Dalls wins Game 2 of Stanley Cup Final vs. Buffalo | Stars CLASSICS




of

WATCH: Stars Take Game 3 of the 1999 Stanley Cup Final | Stars CLASSICS

WATCH: Stars Take Game 3 of the 1999 Stanley Cup Final | Stars CLASSICS




of

Yao Ming offers options for restart of Chinese basketball

Yao Ming offers options for restart of Chinese basketball





of

Supporting positive relationships for children and young people who have experience of care




of

Preserving the history of social work: Golden Bridge




of

The impact of welfare reform on the social services workforce





of

The Urge For Coffee

Necessity in the mother of invention. So I guess Near-necessity is the weird uncle of invention.




of

Why Have I Never Thought of This?

After an hour or two of mowing, it always seems like a good idea to leave my initials in the lawn. ~Not-So-Handy Andy







of

Reunion x Station Cold Brew Coffee & Tonic







of

Sony's Official Used Game Instructional Video

After Microsoft's unclear position on the sale of used games for their new Xbox One game console, Sony steps in and shows how the secondhand market works on their platform. Shots fired?

Keep up with all of our E3 coverage this week right here!




of

Winter Would Have Been More Tolerable With a Gallon of Hot Cocoa




of

This Coffee-Making Alarm Clock Should be Standard Issue in All College Dorms




of

The Daring Story of a Pilot Who Didn't Let a Thing Like "Missing a Landing Gear" Stop Him




of

Fan of the Day: Ohio State Fanatics Map Out the Best Route to Victory



An Ohio State football fan doesn't need to walk 19 miles to prove their love, but it doesn't hurt.

That's what Redditor orweezy and some friends decided to do. But they didn't do it for the mileage, they did it to spell out the four most important letters to them.

Orweezy told his story Aug. 17.



My coworker friends and thought it would be cool to start off the football season by mapping and walking the Ohio Script this past weekend and using the stadium as the "I" dotting.

...We got like 8 miles into it and thought.... "you know this would have been better if we biked it" It took us 6 and a half hours of walking but we made a few bar stops so from 6:30am through 2:45pm. We were doing a work competition about fitness and the metrics used was time, so we walked everywhere and I think we just carried it over. I would rather bike it next time for sure.



The Ohio State Buckeyes will kick off their season on Sept. 7.








of

Artist Leaves $15K Worth of Coins Along Canal and Live-Tweets What Happens

The guy had to have known how this little social experiment would turn out. At least he used pennies. 




of

Squee Spree: A Basket of Squee!

It's time to say goodbye to the squeenks (squee+skunk), whose stink doesn't keep all of us from loving them. Personally, I can hardly bare to say goodbye when they are looking at me like that! Baby skunks are just too cute!





of

Princeton University is significant contributor and catalyst to New Jersey economy, quality of life

Princeton University has a substantial impact on the New Jersey economy, generating an annual total of $1.58 billion in economic output as an employer, research and innovation leader, sponsor of construction projects, purchaser of goods and services, and financial and civic contributor to local communities. That total supports an estimated 13,450 jobs with $970.7 million in earnings.