I'm a lousy liberal

Have I mentioned that before? Because I am. That doesn't stop me from really enjoying and agreeing with Shannyn Moore's latest blog entry.

I think you should go and read it.

I grew up with Shannyn. Her dad was my elementary school principal, her mom was the librarian at the other elementary school. I broke her younger sister Jeannie's front tooth at a Hallowe'en carnival in junior high (it was an accident! I still feel AWFUL about it 25 years later). Thanks to Shannyn's piano recitals I know every note to the Maple Leaf Rag.

Shannyn has been getting attention from the MSM, which is really cool. Even as a kid she was outspoken, driven, and very opinionated. Yes, there were times I hated her guts. We were kids. It looks like she's on the road to success with her chosen field, and I am so damn happy for her.

Go Shannyn!

Blogs I like (Part ? of a series)

Most of you are familiar with Kate Baker, hostess of Anaedream.com, a thoroughly charming place.

And those of you who know of Kate know that she does voice-over work and sings.

Go and listen to her singing. It's great/wonderful/beautiful/worth listening to.

You can download her stuff here.

I like to sing and dance, I like to sing and dance

And I love the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan. But that's not what I'm babbling about today.

Everyone's got something that they geek out over. Some of us get a voyeuristic thrill watching people geek out over things that we find only moderately interesting, but are not necessarily obsessions.

I enjoy dancing. I'm not especially gifted, educated, or trained in dance, yet I usually have a great time. I was one of the only kids in high school that liked our dance unit. Probably because I was the tallest person in class, so I kept having to partner with our dance instructor, one of the counselors who had been a competitive ballroom dancer while in college. Having a partner that knows what to do can make you think you know what to do. It's incredible. But digress... I'm good at digressing!

Susan, a Making Light regular, has started a fabulous blog Capering & Kickery. From the About page:

Welcome to Capering & Kickery, a blog for social dance historians, reconstructors, performers, social dancers, writers of historical fiction, and anyone else who wants solid, research-based information about historical social dance in Europe and America from the 15th through the early 20th centuries.

I like to read historical novels, and the few times I've had questions about interactions at a dance, or how dance is used to prod the plot along, she has been kind, generous, and remarkably thorough with her answers. I mention thorough because I asked a question that I figured would be a Yes/No and one sentence of why. Susan wrote up about 8 paragraphs explaining why the modern portrayal was wrong, but she didn't get all self-righteously obnoxious about it. It was great, and I felt honored that she took that much time to answer my little question about a dance in a regency novel.

So, if you like dance or just geekery in general, please cruise on by Capering & Kickery and check out some of Susan's writing. It's fascinating stuff.